Tipp community where bodies lay undiscovered for a year subject to 'hatred' on social media
The home in Cloneen, Co Tipperary, where the bodies of an English couple lay undiscovered for up to at least a year. Comments on social media have subjected the local community to “hatred and misinformation”, according to a local councillor. Picture: Brendan Gleeson
The community around the house where the bodies of an English couple lay undiscovered for up to at least a year have been subjected to “hatred and misinformation”.
A local councillor has said that comments on social media have added to the pain being felt locally over the deaths of pensioners Nicholas and Hilary Smith.
Their bodies were discovered on Monday afternoon after residents of their nearby village of Cloneen raised the alarm.
The couple may have died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
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 actually told several residents that they were thinking of selling up.
Local Fine Gael councillor Mark Fitzgerald, whose family own The Thatch pub in Cloneen village, told “Anyone passing away is a sad situation, especially in a close-knit area.
“Unfortunately, the full story had not emerged when these bodies were found and there was a lot of hatred and misinformation put out especially on social media and that really compounded the issue.
He added: “As a clear picture has emerged in the last 24 hours, they have gone to extreme lengths to let people in the area know that they had moved.”
When nobody saw them around, locals assumed they had actually moved out, he said — echoing comments made shortly after the couple were found.
No cause of death has yet been confirmed but one line of inquiry being examined by gardaí is whether 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 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 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.
