Convicted killer died from alcohol poisoning before house fire in Cork

Conor Downey was jailed for manslaughter in London in 1993 after he confessed to the 1988 killing of 26-year-old Donegal woman Suzanne Redden.

A convicted killer and sex offender who was found dead inside a burning house in Cork last year died from alcohol poisoning before the fire broke out.

The detail emerged during an inquest into the death of Conor Downey, 54, whose badly burned remains were found by firefighters inside the house where he lived alone in Douglas, on the southside of Cork city.