Homeless man died from drug poisoning before fire, inquest hears

A 25-YEAR-OLD homeless man, whose badly burned body was discovered in a fire at a derelict house in Dublin, was dead from drug poisoning before the blaze erupted, an inquest heard yesterday.

Firefighters discovered the body of Patrick Leddy, of Shangan Green in Dublin’s Ballymun, in the doorway of the front room of a burning house at Dorset Lane on November 10 last year.

Relatives of Mr Leddy believed he had burned to death but State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy yesterday revealed he was already dead before the fire.