Man arrested as couple found dead in Donegal house

Gardaí have sealed off a house after the discovery of the remains of a couple in their home in Co Donegal this morning.

The man and woman, who are in their 70s, were found dead by their son at the family home at around 8.30am in Carndonagh on the Inishowen peninsula. They have been named locally as Kathleen and Jimmy Cuddihy.

Garda sources said another man has been arrested at the scene and has been taken in for questioning about the deaths.

The man in custody was known to the dead couple. He is 42.

A hatchet has been taken from the scene for examination and gardaí believe it may be the murder weapon.

The house was sealed off by gardaí and the bodies remain at the scene pending the arrival of State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy.

She was due to carry out a preliminary examination of the bodies at the scene later today. When that examination has been completed, the bodies will be removed for full postmortem examinations.

The deaths are officially being treated as suspicious deaths and the Garda inquiry will not be upgraded to a murder inquiry until the results of the post mortems are known.

However, gardaí in Buncrana have already committed all of the resources of a murder inquiry to the case and sources said the couple had been attacked violently.

A large amount of blood was found at the scene and gardaí believe they were attacked by a man with a weapon.

The man in custody is the chief suspect in the case. He was detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and can be detained for up to 24 hours without charge.

The property where the victims died was also due to undergo an examination by members of the Garda Technical Bureau.