Gardai say man killed ex-girlfriend before his suicide

The bodies of two people found dead in a house in south Dublin on Saturday morning were returned to their families yesterday for burial. Gardai are satisfied the man killed the woman and then killed himself.

A post-mortem examination carried out in Loughlinstown Hospital by the State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, found that the woman had been strangled and her ex-boyfriend had hanged himself.

The two were named as Ms Amanda Smith (26), from Westbury, Stillorgan, Co Dublin, and Mr Niall Gaynor (28). They were found by gardai in the Gaynor family home on Monaloe Park Road, Cabinteely, on Saturday at 2.30 a.m.

Gardai were alerted late on Friday night when a sister of the dead woman phoned them to say she was concerned about Ms Smith. A door at the house was found open and the bodies were discovered ?????i went inside.

The Gaynor family were away and Mr Gaynor had been in fulltime residential care at Coolmine House, a voluntary organisation for the treatment of drug addicts. Staff at Coolmine refused to comment on the incident.

It is understood Mr Gaynor discharged himself from Coolmine House last week and phoned Ms Smith, who was a former girlfriend. Gardai said Mr Gaynor had a "range of problems" and Ms Smith had also had counselling. The relationship between the two had ended some time ago.

One newspaper reported yesterday that Mr Gaynor had left a suicide note. However, gardai said yesterday that though a note had been found, it could not be described as a suicide note.

Insp Martin Cummins, of Cabinteely Garda station, said it was "speculation" to suggest that Mr Gaynor had killed Ms Smith because she had ended the relationship. "There are a lot of things in this tragedy that may remain unanswered. It's not as if we're looking for anyone else. From a Garda point of view, we're looking for answers that both families need."

Mr Gaynor's parents, brother and sister were not in the family home. It had been locked up while they were away. The house was examined by Garda forensic experts on Saturday and both bodies were removed on Saturday afternoon.

A neighbour described the Gaynors as "an absolutely lovely family. This is a real tragedy and you'll understand we don't want to talk about it."