Edenderry arson attack: How drug debt intimidation turned deadly

Gardaí suspect Midlands drugs gang behind firebombing

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The firebombed house in Castleview Park, Edenderry, in which a woman in her 60's and a four year old boy died on Saturday night. .....Picture Colin Keegan, Collins, Dublin.
The firebombed house in Castleview Park, Edenderry, in which a woman in her 60's and a four year old boy died on Saturday night. .....Picture Colin Keegan, Collins, Dublin.

Gardaí have opened a double murder investigation after a young boy, Tadhg Farrell (4) and his great-aunt Mary Holt (60) were killed in a suspected petrol bomb attack on a house in Co Offaly.

Tadhg’s grandmother, who was also in the house on Saturday evening, is in critical condition in hospital having suffered extensive burns in the blaze at Castleview Park, Edenderry.

The house has been attacked before, in one incident all its windows were broken in what is believed to be an ongoing drug debt feud.

Gardaí suspect a criminal gang involved in the drugs trade in the Midlands were behind the firebombing.

Garda sources said the incident was probably intended as an intimidatory attack and they did not believe the people at the property were the intended targets.

Irish Times crime and security correspondent Conor Gallagher reports from the scene.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Andrew McNair.

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison is an Irish Times journalist and cohost of In the News podcast

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