The Irish Food Awards say that tests carried out on a honey brand submitted for its consideration by a convicted con artist and her partner — who were found dead in their Limerick home in May — show the product could have come from Ireland.

The head of a children’s charity and the manager of a Galway-based company have told of their encounters with conwoman Julia Holmes, who is believed to have been found dead with her partner Tom Ruttle in their home in Askeaton, Co Limerick, on Monday morning.

A con artist with a number of known aliases, Julia Holmes drew the attention of authorities here, in the North, and in the US where she perpetrated a number of frauds, duping people out of hundreds of thousands of euro.