‘A sense of shock in Castlebar’ : Firearm recovered at scene where farmer’s body found

A man is still being questioned by gardaí following the discovery of a man’s body in his farmhouse outside Castlebar, Co Mayo, on Sunday evening.

The grey bungalow, which was home to John Brogan in Pheasant Hill and set back from the busy main road to Westport, about 2km from Castlebar’s town centre, remained cordoned off by gardaí on Monday night.

Throughout the day, gardaí continued to seal off the entrance to the house, where a small silver car was parked at the gable end, while the Garda Technical Bureau and a State Pathologist carried out their investigations.

Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster visited the scene around midday and spent time there before leaving again. A local undertaker arrived at lunchtime and took Mr Brogan’s remains to Mayo University Hospital.

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[ Gardaí believe pensioner was shot before house was set on fire; one man arrested ]

A firearm was recovered at a scene and a man in his 60s was arrested a short time afterwards. He was brought to Castlebar Garda station where he can be held for 24 hours. He was still in custody on Monday night.

A bachelor, Mr Brogan had lived alone since the sudden death of his brother Henry more than five years ago and he had been a familiar figure cycling to and from Castlebar. In his 80s, he had been acquitted of 16 charges of sexual assault alleged to have taken place in the late 2000s.

Few, if any, locals wanted to speak, especially after details of Mr Brogan’s court case began to emerge locally. Local Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon said: “There was certainly a sense of shock and sadness throughout Castlebar.”

Urging anyone with information to come forward, Mr Dillon said the authorities’ job “is never easy and I am sure when they arrived on the scene their initial task was to deal with the fire. And then to find a body inside, well, I think there is a huge amount of shock associated with that.”