No decision on possible charges against gang who found bodies

No decision has been made in relation to any possible charges a gang of burglars may face after they broke into a Co Limerick farmhouse and discovered the bodies of a man and a woman.

Whether charges will be brought or not will be a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The 63-year-old woman found dead at the farmhouse along with her 56-year-old partner has been positively identified as convicted fraudster Julia Holmes.

Originally from Northern Ireland, Ms Holmes, who used dozens of different aliases, died in an apparent suicide pact with her partner who has been named locally as Thomas Ruttle, a father of two.

The badly decomposed bodies of the pair were discovered in an upstairs bedroom of the farmhouse they shared at Boolaglass in Askeaton at 3am on Monday.

A liquid substance found beside the bed where the couple were discovered is being examined in an effort to establish if they consumed a lethal concoction before they died.

A considerable amount of correspondence, in both their handwriting, found in the kitchen is also proving crucial. It is understood some of the correspondence may be dated March 14th, but it remains unclear when the couple died.

A garda spokesman confirmed that Ms Holmes was positively identified on Wednesday following extensive pathological tests carried out at University Hospital Limerick.

The 63-year old, who had one estranged son, had been on the run from the PSNI since 20011.

She had more than 20 previous convictions for fraud.

In 2006 she was deported from the US, where she was convicted in connection with a $500,000 property scam in Texas. She had been living with Mr Ruttle for a number of years and became joint owner of the house in 2012.

Officers are satisfied there was communication between Mr Ruttle and another man in early April. However, they are still trying to establish when Ms Holmes was last seen, and her social media activity and blog entries are being examined.

The couple had not been seen together in public since March after Ms Holmes - who was on the run from the PSNI following an £18,000 fraud charge - featured in television and newspaper reports.

An initial postmortem was unable to establish the cause of death of the couple, who were found lying side by side and fully clothed at the house.

Detectives believe the bodies had been at the scene for several weeks and there was no electricity or heating in the house when gardaí arrived.

Neither of the two legally held firearms found in the house were discharged and there was no evidence of gunshots or major trauma to the decomposed bodies.

The Garda investigation has now focused on the liquid substance, but it is believed that toxicology tests could take up to three weeks.

Detectives are also looking into claims that a woman, trying to unmask Ms Holmes’s fraudulent activities, was blocked from accessing a Twitter account used by Ms Holmes on April 22nd last.