Tipperary couple may have been killed by carbon monoxide up to a year ago

A house in Cloneen near the Tipperary-Kilkenny border where the bodies of two people were found on Monday afternoon.

The elderly couple whose bodies may have lain undiscovered in their house for up to a year may have died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Named locally as Nicholas and Hilary Smith, they were last seen so long ago that residents living nearby thought they had moved out.

The couple, who bought their house outside the village of Cloneen, Co Tipperary, up to 10 years ago for around €190,000, had told a number of residents that they were thinking of selling up.

When nobody saw them around, locals assumed they had actually moved out.

The House at Cloneen County Tipperary. Picture: Brendan Gleeson

Speculation locally is that one of the couple — who are said by local residents to have lived like "ghosts" in the area — had an underlying health condition and may have contracted Covid-19, but this has not been confirmed.

But one line of inquiry being looked at is whether or not the couple may have died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Toxicology reports are likely to be the only way to tell at this stage, and these are not likely to be ready for some time.

A number of scenarios

The fact that all the curtains had been drawn closed and there was no sign of forced entry into the house is being looked at by detectives as having some significance, and could suggest a number of different scenarios.

These could include murder-suicide, a double suicide, or accidental death.

A leading missing-persons charity in the UK has confirmed they were not aware of any alerts being placed for the couple.

One of the last people to see the couple alive has claimed they were given €500 by the couple and asked to keep cutting the lawn "until the money ran out".

The Irish Examiner understands that a local resident had a “gut feeling” that something was wrong, and he and another resident agreed to raise the alarm and ask the gardaí to do a “welfare check” on the couple.

The couple’s car was parked around the back, but there was absolutely no sign of life.

Questions started to be asked locally about why the house was lying idle if it had been sold and the couple had moved out.

“The fact that the car was still there led some of us to think the car was sold with the house," said one resident, who asked not to be named.

As to the couple, another resident who asked not to be named said: “Very few people met them and spoke to them.

They were like ghosts. They really did keep themselves to themselves and you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody who knew them.

“They don’t appear to have had any friends or family.

"They were always together."

Local Fine Gael councillor Mark Fitzgerald, whose family own The Thatch pub in Cloneen village, said: “Everybody is just numb.

"This is the sort of thing you hear about in the news, not something in a small rural community like this.

“People are doing some pondering right now.

“Everybody’s thoughts and prayers are with the family of this couple.”

It is understood that the couple, who were discovered around 4pm on Monday afternoon, were found in separate rooms in the house after gardaí gained entry to the house.