'Many lines of inquiry ongoing' into death of Englishman on holiday six years ago in West

Gardaí applied for a further adjournment of the inquest into the death of Joe Deacy from injuries sustained in 2017 in Swinford, Co. Mayo.

Gardaí are continuing to follow many lines of inquiry into the violent death of a young man from England while he was on holiday in the west of Ireland six years ago, an inquest has heard.

A brief sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court heard an application by gardaí for a further adjournment of the inquest into the death of Joe Deacy at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin on August 13, 2017 from injuries sustained the previous day in Swinford, Co. Mayo.

Mr Deacy, aged 21, from St Alban’s in Hertfordshire, had initially been treated at Mayo University Hospital for serious injuries where he was brought after being discovered lying on the ground outside a house at 6.30am on August 12, 2017, by a passing cyclist.

Gardaí launched a murder investigation after postmortem results showed he had suffered a blunt force trauma to the head. Inspector Naomi de Rís told Coroner Cróna Gallagher on Tuesday that the investigation into the young man’s death was ongoing.

Insp. de Rís said Mr Deacy’s family had been briefed on progress in the case and the senior investigating garda had travelled to the UK to meet his relatives. “Many lines of inquiry are ongoing,” she added.

At a previous hearing of the case last November, Insp. de Ris said several witnesses who were living outside Ireland still had to be interviewed by gardaí. Dr Gallagher granted an application for a further adjournment of the inquest under Section 25.1 of the Coroners Act on the basis that criminal proceedings in relation to Mr Deacy’s death are being considered.

The coroner adjourned the case for mention to November 16 but asked gardaí to come back before the court if there were any developments in the case before then.

Night of Joe Deacy's death

Mr Deacy, who considered himself to be from Mayo — the home county of his paternal grandparents — was a regular visitor to the west of Ireland where he stayed with relatives and had applied for an Irish passport shortly before his death.

He had spent the evening before he was assaulted socialising in Kiltimagh, Co. Mayo, before being dropped with his friend to the house in Swinford where he was later found.

He had sent a video via social media to his second cousin, Michelle Deacy, with whom he had been staying, at around 3.45am but what happened over the next few hours remains unclear.

The deceased’s father, Adrian Deacy, has issued a number of public appeals for people with information about his son’s death to pass on details of what they know to gardaí.