Garda probe after body found in ditch

GARDAÍ were last night trying to trace the final movements of a man found dead in a ditch with stab wounds near the canal in Mullingar town.

The body of the non-national was discovered by an ESB sub-contractor who was checking poles after a power fault in the area. A stunned Sean Burns was very shaken by the grim discovery on the Castlepollard Road yesterday morning.

“My suspicions were aroused when I saw the cover of a kitchen knife on the ground near a ditch. When I walked over, I saw a hole in the ditch. I went closer and found a body lying on its side.”