GARDAÍ LAST night expressed concern for the safety of an Englishman missing in Bandon following the murder of another man whose body was dumped in the river in the centre of the west Cork town.
Detectives investigating the murder of father of one, Jonathan Duke (27), believe he was seriously assaulted during a row in a flat in a house at St Finbarr’s Place in the town late on Sunday night and was then thrown into the river Bandon. However, gardaí last night became increasingly concerned for the safety of an Englishman in his 40s living in nearby North Main Street who disappeared after drinking in the same flat at St Finbarr’s Place near Bandon Bridge on Saturday night.
While gardaí would not officially confirm whether or not the Englishman’s disappearance was linked to the killing of Mr Duke, it was privately admitted they were fearful he too could turn out to be the victim of foul play.
The concern came as gardaí continue to question a 37-year-old Czech man and a 35-year-old woman from Kinsale arrested at the flat within 30 minutes of the recovery of the body of Mr Duke from the river shortly before midnight on Sunday.
Gardaí had been alerted after they received a 999 call from two people who had spotted what they thought was a person being thrown into the river from a pathway leading to the house at St Finbarr’s Place on the southern side of the river and just metres upstream from the bridge. Gardaí were quickly on the scene and recovered Mr Duke’s body in shallow water near the southern bank of the river less than 15 metres downstream of the bridge. A local doctor pronounced Mr Duke dead at the scene.
His body was taken to Cork University Hospital where Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster conducted a postmortem which confirmed he had suffered a violent death and gardaí immediately began a murder inquiry.