Two men arrested after deceased pensioner was propped up in post office

Gardaí investigating an incident in which deceased pensioner Peader Doyle (66) was being propped up in a post office have arrested two men. The arrests were made by Carlow gardaí, who are investigating the highly unusual incident on the morning of Friday, January 21st.

The two men, one in his 20s and one in his 30s, were arrested in Carlow town on Wednesday morning. They were being held at the local Garda station and were being detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.

Mr Doyle was taken by two men to Hosey’s post office and shop on Staplestown Road in Carlow town at about 11am on January 21st to collect his pension. However, staff and other customers became concerned for Mr Doyle as he was unresponsive and was being propped up.

While efforts were then made to revive him, the Carlow man was already dead. The scene was sealed off and a postmortem later revealed there was no foul play in his death. However, all the circumstances surrounding his death have been under investigation and the two men detained on Wednesday were being questioned as part of that investigation.

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Gardaí have been trying to establish if Mr Doyle was already dead when he was taken from his home on Pollerton Road, about 500m from the post office, to collect his pension or if he died on the way.

The two men who brought him to the post office went to gardaí last week and gave statements voluntarily. They have insisted Mr Doyle, who they knew well, was alive when they left his home, saying they helped him on the walk to the post office as he had been unwell.

The men have also said they did not realise Mr Doyle had died until he became very heavy and that they believed he died in the post office.

Earlier last Friday morning, one of the men went to the post office alone in an effort to collect Mr Doyle’s pension, saying the pensioner was ill and could not come himself.

However, he was informed by staff that Mr Doyle would have to collect it himself. It appears that man then went to Mr Doyle’s house and, with the help of another man, brought him to the post office to collect the pension.