Gardaí reject Letterfrack murder inquiry claim

Gardaí have this evening denied they are treating the investigation into the death of 13-year-old Willie Delaney as a murder inquiry.

The remains of the boy, who died in 1970, were exhumed in Kilkenny yesterday by gardaí investigating allegations of sexual and physical abuse at the school in Letterfrack, Co Galway.

But a newspaper report today claimed gardaí were set to upgrade the status of the investigation to that of a murder inquiry.

An examination of the remains is said to have revealed evidence of skull damage. The boy died during a summer visit home from the school.

Gardaí said the full results of the postmortem would not be complete for a number of days or even weeks and as yet the status of the investigation had not changed.