Two men arrested in connection with Cork murder of Peter Murphy in 2015

Gardaí investigating the death of man in north Cork almost five years ago have arrested two men.

Investigating gardaí have previously said they believe the attack on 37-year-old Peter Murphy in February 2015 at his rented home in Shanavoher, Bweeng was related to a drugs dispute. He died due to head injuries after being beaten.

Two men in their 20s have now been arrested by gardaí as part of the investigation.

Both men were brought to Mallow Garda Station where they were detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act.

Superintendent William Duane renewed their appeal for information.

"Gardaí continue to investigate the murder of Peter Murphy at his home in Shanavoher," he said.

"We would like to thank the members of the community for their assistance to date but we are still appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

"Anyone who knows anything surrounding this investigation is asked to contact us at Mallow Garda Station 022 31450, The Garda Confidential Line 1800 666111 or any Garda Station.”

Mr Murphy was a native of Castletownroche.

He had been living at the rental property in Bweeng, some 10km from Mallow, for more than a year before he died.

His body was discovered on February 7, 2015, when his landlord called to the property having been alerted to damage at the property by a neighbour.

A postmortem by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster determined that Mr Murphy had suffered blunt force trauma injuries to the head. He had sustained a fractured skull, fractured ribs and damage to both his liver and spleen.

He had died at least 12 hours before he was found.

Gardaí believe he was attacked in one room and either crawled or was dragged by his assailants into the sitting room where his body was discovered.

An extensive investigation was carried out at the time, with gardaí reporting that more than 200 witnesses were interviewed and in excess of 1,200 hours of CCTV reviewed.

In July 2015, five men were arrested by gardaí investigating the killing.

The five, all aged in their 20s and 30s and arrested in the Doneraile and Buttevant areas, were questioned under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act.

They were subsequently released without charge before a file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.