A POSTMORTEM examination was carried out last night on the body of a man found yesterday in an apartment block in Clonmel, Co Tipperary.
It is understood that Anthony Fallon (46) had injuries consistent with an assault when he was found at 6.52am yesterday.
Gardaí would not comment on whether the investigation would be upgraded to a murder inquiry, pending the postmortem at Limerick Regional Hospital.
Mr Fallon and his wife Elma, from whom he was separated, have two sons. She was informed of what happened yesterday.
Mr Fallon – who was nicknamed “Elvis” because of his black slicked-back hair – had been living in a rented apartment on Abbey Street, beside a Franciscan friary in Clonmel’s town centre in recent months. This area was sealed off by gardaí.
His body was found about 100 yards away inside River House, an apartment block on the corner of New Quay and Dowd’s Lane.
There was speculation that he may have been assaulted at his own home before making his way around the corner to River House, where he was reported to have been seen ringing the main doorbell in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Mr Fallon was found in the stairwell of River House at 6.52am by a local resident, who then called the emergency services. Mr Fallon was pronounced dead at the scene.
The body remained in the building until after the arrival of crime investigators, before being removed at about 4.30pm yesterday. State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy was due to perform the postmortem.
River House contains 20 apartments. Residents who wanted to leave the building yesterday morning had to be taken out through windows and balconies on ladders by the fire service, as they could not cross the hallway which was being preserved by gardaí pending forensic examination.
Rosemary O’Gorman said she was trying to leave for work at about 7.30am yesterday when she saw the body in the hallway and was told by gardaí she could not use the main entrance.
“It’s terrible, I just can’t believe it,” she said.
She and her partner John O’Brien said they did not hear anything suspicious during the night. “We’re so far back, we wouldn’t really hear anything,” Mr O’Brien said.
Mr Fallon grew up in Clonmel and his mother, Mai, died last July while his father, Bernie, is also dead.
He formerly ran a taxi business in the town.