Man’s decomposed remains found in apartment, inquest hears

The decomposed remains of a man were found at his apartment in Finglas, Co Dublin, last September, an inquest has heard.

David Rutledge (53) had moved into the sheltered living apartment at Mellowes Court just months before his death.

On Monday, Dublin Coroner’s Court heard that he had been delighted to have his own home.

The court was told he kept the apartment very well and was very proud of it.

He had lived at a residential facility in Clontarf prior to moving to Finglas, the court heard.

The man’s sister told the court she last spoke to him on September 10th, 2015, five days before he was found dead.

She said she “got a bad feeling” when she could not reach Mr Rutledge on September 14th. She subsequently sent a text to his social worker.

The following day, she phoned the social worker and he and a community nurse called to check on Mr Rutledge at his home.

At the door, they got the smell of gas and felt that the heating was on.

They contacted Dublin City Council and the door was broken down in order to gain access to the apartment.

Mr Rutledge’s decomposed remains were found inside.

Postmortem

The cause of death was unascertained in the postmortem due to the level of decomposition.

The heating in the apartment had sped up the decomposition process, the court heard.

There were no significant pathological findings, Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said, but trauma and injury were ruled out.

The man had medications in his system, including paracetemol, the sleep medication zopiclone and the anti-psychotic drug clozapine.

The coroner returned an open verdict on his death.