Three men found dead in derelict house

A town is coming to terms with the shock discovery of three bodies in a derelict house.

The grim discovery was made early yesterday morning in Roscommon when emergency services were called to a house in the centre of the town.

Three bodies were discovered in the front room of the bungalow, which had suffered some smoke damage.

The three men were named as Ian Finn, Micheál Beirne and John Kerr, all of whom had addresses in the area, but had been staying in the house at 1 St Ciaran’s Park from time to time.

Gardaí say they are keeping an open mind, but initial investigations were focusing on the belief that the three men died after an armchair in the room went on fire.

Shocked locals called to the dwelling throughout yesterday as the town came to terms with the triple tragedy

The house, which is just off the town square, had been vacant for some time, but according to locals it has been used as a squat for a number of months.

Superintendent Tom O’Connor confirmed that there was evidence of “transient activity” in the house, and that gardaí had not uncovered evidence of drug use at the address.

“It appears that the fire started in one of the armchairs, but never ignited fully. There was very little ventilation in the room as the chimney had been sealed off,” said Superintendent O’Connor.

“No evidence of drug use has been identified, but it will take our technical team quite some time to finish their investigations at the house.

“It has come to our attention that people had been frequenting this house, which has been in the main, derelict. But other than that we have not had any complaints of any activity in this house.”

State pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy carried out a preliminary examination of the three bodies at the scene yesterday, before conducting a full postmortem at Galway University Hospital yesterday evening.

Mr Finn, an English native in his late 30s who has family in the Roscommon area, is understood to have been using the house for a number of months since he moved to the area from London.

Mr Kerr, who was in his 20s and originally from Dublin, is believed to have moved to Roscommon a number of years ago with his family, while Mr Beirne, in his 40s, was a native of the Roscommon area.

Gardaí discovered the three men’s bodies when they responded to a call from a “concerned citizen” at 7.30am yesterday.

Gardaí and the fire services found the front door of the house open, but had to force their way into the living room of the one-storey building.

The three men were found in different areas of the room, but the fire services were not required to extinguish any fire and no smoke damage was visible from the outside of the building.

Local councillor Dominic Connolly has expressed his shock at the tragedy.