Tests to show woman was dead for eight months

TESTS on the body of a woman discovered in a bed in her Mayo home are expected to show she was lying dead for nearly eight months.

The body of 70-year-old Agnes Lyons was found last week in the house she shared with her elderly brother and sister.

The State Pathologist’s office is still conducting a number of tests to confirm when Ms Lyons died but garda sources said they are likely to reveal that while the body lay in the bed for many months, it was not more than a year.

“The informed guess is about eight months,” said one source. “There was speculation she was there for three years. We don’t expect that.”

Officially, gardaí are waiting for the test results before confirming the approximate date Ms Lyons died.

“We are still waiting for the results,” said Superintendent John O’Driscoll, of Swinford Garda Station.

“Investigations to date confirm the initial assessment that the death arose out of natural causes.”

Ms Lyons lived with her 66-year-old sister Mary Ellen and 74-year-old brother Sonny in the three-bedroom bungalow in Aughamore, Co Mayo.

She and her sister had not been seen outside the house in three years. Their brother would leave the house to go shopping in Ballyhaunis. He is understood to have told gardaí he had no idea his sister had died.

The dead woman is understood to have been buried in private earlier this week while sister Mary Ellen is still undergoing treatment in hospital.