A post-mortem on the body of Mr Joseph Vickers (43), who was found dead near his burning caravan at Greystones, Co Wicklow, early yesterday morning, was continuing late last night. The body had laceration marks.
Gardai are treating the death as suspicious, but were awaiting the outcome of the post-mortem before deciding on the nature of their inquiry. "Nothing is definitive yet," said Supt Philip Moynihan last night. He is leading the investigation.
An extensive search of the beach near the caravan was conducted by gardai yesterday.
The State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, began a post-mortem in Loughlinstown Hospital yesterday afternoon.
Mr Vickers, formerly of Maitland Street, Bray, had moved his caravan onto a green area beside the car-park at North Beach, Grey stones, two months ago. According to the gardai, he had been living there since.
His body, dressed in his night clothes, was found between eight and 10 feet from the blazing caravan shortly before 3 a.m. The discovery was made by gardai who had gone to investigate the fire.
Mr Vickers had superficial wounds to his arms, but did not have any burns, said Supt Moynihan.
Gardai combed the long, stony strand yesterday while colleagues searched nearby front gardens for clues.
Mr Vickers had served a number of prison terms for drugs-related offences. He was last released two years ago and had not come to the attention of the Garda since moving to Greystones. He was married, but separated, and had four children, the eldest of whom is 21.
Neighbours said Mr Vickers kept the caravan outside his mother's home in Maitland Street, Bray, until he moved it to Greystones.
All that remained of the caravan yesterday were stumps of twisted metal. Mr Vickers had no electricity or running water. To get the caravan into the car-park, it had been brought around a large metal frame designed to keep caravans and camper-vans out.
Dr John Harbison arrived at the scene shortly before noon yesterday and spent an hour on a preliminary examination. Once the dead man had been formally identified by a relative, his body was taken to Loughlinstown Hospital for the post-mortem. Two long strips of blue tarpaulin ran from the front of the caravan to the high-water mark on the shore. Supt Moynihan said this was because there were a number of items there which they wanted to inspect further.
He appealed for any information which may help the gardai with their investigations. In particular, they are anxious to speak to anyone who may have seen anything suspicious in the North Beach area between 8 p.m. on Sunday and 4 a.m. yesterday.
A local resident, Ms Jackie Flanagan, said she had noticed the caravan was occupied the previous day. Before that, she had thought it was derelict and abandoned.
"I stood here looking and wondering could anybody be living in it on such a cold day," she said. For a person to die in such circumstances coming up to Christmas was appalling, she added.