Gardaí in Mullingar have launched a murder inquiry after the postmortem on the remains of an 82-year-old man found in his apartment in the Westmeath town on Sunday revealed he died of multiple injuries to his chest.
The dead man has been named as Mick Creighton. He was tied up and beaten by his attackers.
Mr Creighton was found dead in his apartment on Castle Street, Mullingar, at 5pm on Sunday. Relatives went to the apartment after repeated efforts to contact him by telephone over the weekend had failed.
Mr Creighton was originally from Galway but had been living since the 1950s in Mullingar, where he worked as a senior engineer with Westmeath County Council until his retirement.
One line of inquiry being pursued is that he may have been targeted by burglars and attacked during a break-in. Gardaí believe he may have been dead for a number of days.
When repeated efforts to contact Mr Creighton failed, his family contacted a local woman who runs a coffee shop close to the dead man's apartment.
When she called there on Sunday she got no response but could hear the sound of a television in the property. At that point Mr Creighton's brother and nephew became increasingly concerned and travelled from Galway.
Gardaí were alerted and discovered the remains at the apartment. The scene was immediately sealed off. Garda technical experts began their examination.
The scene was preserved overnight and State pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy travelled to Mullingar yesterday. After she had conducted a postmortem gardaí upgraded the investigation from suspicious death to murder. The extensive wounds found on Mr Creighton's body indicated he had been beaten.
While robbery is being considered as the most likely motive, sources said it was not clear if anything of value had been taken from the apartment.
Mr Creighton, a single man, was described by one source who knew him as security conscious. He did not keep large sums of money at home.
His attacker would have needed to gain access to the apartment block on Castle Street before getting into Mr Creighton's apartment.
Gardaí have appealed to anybody who may have seen Mr Creighton between 11am on Friday and 5pm on Sunday to contact them. They have also appealed for anyone who may have seen anything suspicious in the Castle Street area on Friday or over the weekend to contact them.
Mr Creighton was well known in the Mullingar area. He had been ill in recent months, having suffered a stroke, and had spent periods in hospital. However, his health had improved of late and he travelled regularly to see his family in Galway.
He was a founding member of Mullingar Tennis Club and had been active there until recently. The local authority had also bestowed on him the equivalent of the freedom of the town. Gardaí can be contacted at (044) 84000.
