Gardaí investigate youth's death

Gardaí in Co Waterford have launched an investigation after the discovery of a youth's body at the rear of a private house in a seaside village.

A woman discovered the body of a youth (17) at Woodstown Lodge, Co Waterford, after returning from a holiday. She made the discovery on Saturday between 5.30pm and 6pm.

The youth, named locally as Patrick O'Regan, was from the Lismore Park housing estate in Waterford city. He was an apprentice electrician.

A section of the road known locally as "The Gap" was sealed off on Saturday evening, pending the arrival of the Garda Technical Bureau and State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy.

The youth's remains were removed yesterday morning and taken to Waterford Regional Hospital where Dr Cassidy carried out a postmortem. The preliminary results revealed that the youth died of severe trauma to the head, consistent with a fall, according to gardaí.

They said reports that the youth had been stabbed were false and it is understood that no weapon was found at the scene.

Members of the Garda Technical Bureau initiated preliminary forensic examinations at the scene early yesterday. They searched a grassy bank, approximately 500 yards away from Woodstown Lodge, on the beach yesterday.

The road between the two areas was cordoned off yesterday. It was claimed that this area was the scene of a beach party on Saturday evening where an incident was alleged to have happened. Gardaí would not reveal the nature of the incident nor whether the discovery of the body and the alleged incident were linked.

They appalled to anyone in the area between 10.30pm on Friday through 5.30pm on Saturday to contact gardaí on 051 305300.