Gardaí start murder inquiry into death of Naul woman

Gardaí confirmed today they are treating the death of a mother (30) in her north Co Dublin home as murder.

Ms Rachel O'Reilly was found found dead in suspicious circumstances at her home in Naul on Monday after she failed to collect one of her children from school.

In a statement today the Garda said a post-mortem was carried out by State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy yesterday afternoon. The statement said the results of the post-mortem are not being released for operational reasons.

"A full forensic examination of the house in continuing and this is expect to last for at least two more days," it added.

Officers are appealing to anybody who was in the Beldaragh area of Naul on Monday morning or in the early afternoon, and who may have seen any suspicious or unusual activity, to contact the incident room at Balbriggan Garda Station  (01) 8020510.

Ms O'Reilly was last seen at about 9.30 a.m. on Monday when she dropped her two children, aged four and two, to local national and Montessori schools.

The alarm was raised when she failed to collect her younger child from the Montessori at lunchtime. The woman's mother called to the house where she discovered her body in the opening of a bedroom door downstairs at about 1.30 p.m.

Supt Tom Gallagher of Balbriggan Garda station, who is leading the investigation, said Ms O'Reilly appeared to have suffered severe head wounds. In addition, he said, the house seemed to have been disturbed, which may have indicated a break-in.

However, he stressed that this was only one line of inquiry gardaí were pursuing. Ms O'Reilly moved to the area from north Dublin city with her husband and their two children just over a year ago.