Body of Dublin woman found in Greece

The family of an Irish woman who was killed while on holiday in Greece, has criticised media coverage of her death.

The body of Ms Maire Cronin (34), from Mount Merrion in Dublin, was found at 7 a.m. on May 30th but was not formally identified until yesterday morning.

Ms Cronin, who has lived and worked in London for several years, had been staying on the Greek island of Spetses. The last reported sighting of her was when a travel agency employee watched her get on the ferry from the island. Her body was found on the Greek mainland, near Athens.

A statement from the family said Ms Cronin's body was found fully clothed and speculation she was the victim of a serial killer was "incorrect".

The statement said Ms Cronin "died instantly from a single head wound and apart from this there were no other injuries or evidence of interference with any other part of her body".

The statement added: "At this point, the Greek police have not linked Maire's death with any other murder." The statement requested the media to respect the family's privacy.

A friend of the family said Ms Cronin died instantly from a single blow to the head, contrary to a coroner's report which said she died of multiple injuries. "Maire was formally identified today by her brothers Patrick and Michael." Her parents were on holiday in Sweden when they heard of the tragedy. The body is expected to be flown home to Dublin by the end of the week. A spokesman for Scotland Yard said the alarm was raised by Ms Cronin's employers, a London medical insurance company. He said: "When she didn't turn up for work on May 30th her employers contacted her brother who made a report to police. We established she never boarded her flight home and Greek authorities were notified."