Keane death probe continues

GARDAÍ are continuing to investigate “the full circumstances” of the death of Chief Justice Ronan Keane’s only son, Timothy.

The dead man's mother, former Sunday Independent social diarist Terry Keane, returned from her villa in the south of France with her journalist daughter Madeleine on learning of the tragedy.

Friends of the Keane family said the judge's estranged wife, who survived a battle with cancer in recent years, was distraught with grief.

Mr Justice Keane, who is due to retire from the bench next week on reaching the age of 72, identified the 39-year-old's body.

A writer and journalist, Timothy Keane lived alone in a small flat on Dublin's Harold's Cross Road. The body was found on Friday after his landlord became concerned at not seeing him for some days.

Reports suggested the head injuries Mr Keane sustained were consistent with a heavy accidental fall. It is understood there was no sign of a struggle or a break-in and the front door was locked.

Detectives are trying to establish whether Mr Keane was alone in the hours before he died. Details of State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy's post-mortem examination on the body have not been released by gardaí.

Sources close to the family described Mr Keane as very quiet and sensitive. He did occasional book and film reviews or the Sunday Independent. Neighbours said he kept to himself but would always say hello.

In March 2000, broadcaster and journalist Jonathan Philbin Bowman, 31, was found dead at his home also in Harold's Cross in a pool of blood, after falling down the stairs.

Mr Keane is also survived by two other sisters Justine, who is married to celebrity TV gardener Diarmuid Gavin, and Jane, Terry Keane's child from a previous relationship.