Former sparring partner of Barry McGuigan died from fall

Gardaí are investigating after a postmortem revealed a man found at the rear of a house in Waterford city died from injuries sustained in a fall.

Gardaí­ have not yet ruled out foul play being committed against the man, named as 54-year-old Danny McAllister, a former sparring partner of Barry McGuigan.

Mr McAllister, originally from Belfast, was reportedly missing since being seen on St Patrick’s night and was living at Francis Street in Waterford.

Mr McAllister had been living on his own in rented accommodation in Waterford for some time and did not have family in the area.

He was reported missing at about 12 noon on Thursday, by friends who became concerned after they hadn’t seen him since he was in a pub in the city on Tuesday night.

A body was found later on Thursday afternoon in the back garden of the house at Number 9 Francis Street, reportedly by a care worker who had been visiting somebody in a different house in the area at about 2.30pm.

Gardaí­ were immediately called as well as the ambulance services and while attempts were made to resuscitate him at the scene, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The body remained in the back garden on Thursday night pending a postmortem examination carried out on Friday morning by State pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy, initially at the scene and later at University Hospital Waterford.

The postmortem showed that the man died as a result of a fall, which is understood to have caused a broken neck.

Gardaí­ are still investigating the circumstances surrounding how he fell: “How he got there and how he fell, we still have to look into,” a garda involved in the investigation said.

The house where Mr McAllister was found and another nearby house on the terrace where he lived were sealed off by gardaí­.

Detectives are seeking witnesses who might have been in the Francis Street area between Tuesday and Thursday morning and noticed or heard anything suspicious.

“There’s a few bits and pieces we need to clear up,” said a garda involved in the investigation, “people we need to talk to, to see exactly what went on.”

Anyone with information has been asked to contact the garda station in Waterford on 051-305300, any station or the garda confidential line on 1800-666111.