Father who killed wife and children was ‘very disturbed’, inquest hears

CO Wexford father Diarmuid Flood who last April killed his wife and children before setting fire to their home and shooting himself in the head and was “very disturbed” and was not in his “normal senses”, the inquest into the deaths of the Flood family from Clonroche heard yesterday.

Pathologist Dr Declan Gilsenan said Lorraine Flood, 38, died from a gunshot wound to the chest while her two young children, Julie, five, and Mark, six, were at “best guess” smothered.

Coroner Sean Nixon said Mr Flood, 41, was suffering from a depressive illness which he kept well hidden, and had worked as normal right up to the day he died.