Garda caution in mystery death of mother of three

LAST night mystery surrounded the death of a young mother found in her home on the northside of Cork city yesterday morning.

Mother-of-three Tina Greaney was discovered at the foot of her stairs after spending the night out with friends.

A post mortem was ordered to find out how the 27-year-old woman died and her home on Killiney Heights, Knocknaheeny, was cordoned off for a full technical examination.

However, while the gardaí said they are treating the death as suspicious they were reluctant to upgrade the case to a murder investigation.

The Garda press office denied reports of an arrest being made and said the investigation would be handled cautiously until it could be established what the exact cause of death was.

Results from Deputy State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster’s post mortem are expected to be released later this morning.

On Saturday night Ms Greaney was at a city centre nightclub with a close friend. Afterwards both attended a house party in Togher and returned home at 5.30am. She was found by her seven-year-old daughter Taylor shortly before 10am.

The young girl raised the alarm by running to Ms Greaney’s mother’s house directly across the street.

Yesterday, neighbours living near her home in Killiney Heights believed she died a violent death.

However, gardaí said they are keeping an open mind and are investigating the possibility she may have fallen down the stairs.

“At this stage it is too early to say, there were no signs of a break-in and at the moment we are being cautious,” a spokesman said.

Neighbours described Tina Greaney as a devoted mother who was “trying to do her best” for her young children Taylor, 7, Kelvin, 6, and Jodie, 8 months.

Shocked friends arrived at the scene yesterday with floral tributes to the dead woman. Neighbour Margaret McSweeney said “We are just in shock. We are all too upset to talk really. How could it happen? She was so quiet.”