Body discovered in building

THREE young people yesterday made the gruesome discovery of a body in a derelict building in Dublin’s north inner city.

Gardaí were last night treating the male victim’s death as suspicious.

The discovery brought to five, throughout the country, the number of murders and suspicious deaths within three days.

State Pathologist Dr Máire Cassidy was in Athlone conducting a post mortem on the body of a 42-year-old man found in a house when she was alerted to the fresh garda investigation in Dublin.

It emerged the victim in Athlone died after being struck by a car.

Dr Cassidy, however, had to dash back to Dublin to carry out a preliminary inspection of the body at the scene.

Gardaí said first reports pointed to the victim suffering head injuries.

The body was found in an unoccupied building in the north inner city.

“We have not made a positive identity,” gardaí said last night, “and until the pathologist and garda technical units conduct preliminary examinations, the death is being treated as suspicious.”

The man was found by three youths in the building on Coke Lane off Arran Quay.

The scene is close to Smithfield Square and the Four Courts buildings.

The alarm was raised by the youths around 4pm but the body remained at the sealed-off building until late last night.

Dr Cassidy arrived in central Dublin shortly after 9pm from the Midlands.

Gardaí said preliminary reports on the body suggested the victim was in his late 20s or 30s. However, witnesses at the scene said the dead person was much younger and could possibly be a teenager.