Carlow body: probe launched after body of elderly man ‘taken to post office and attempt made to claim pension’

Police in Ireland are investigating reports that the body of an elderly man was allegedly brought to a post office in Co Carlow.

Reports in our sister title The News Letter suggest that an attempt was made to claim his pension.

The Irish Times reported that the deceased pensioner was "propped up by two men" as his body was carried into the building.

It said the two men "dropped" the body and fled when staff questioned them.

The newspaper said it understood that a concerned staff member "enquired about the wellbeing of the man being propped up" when the group approached the post office counter.

Carlow mayor Ken Murnane said the local community is absolutely shocked by the reports.

“The whole town is in shock that anyone could actually think of doing something like that, it’s unbelievable,” he told the PA news agency.

“It’s just mind-boggling that anyone could happen to do something like that, it beggars belief. It’s like a Hitchcock movie.”

A Garda spokesperson said gardai are investigating all the circumstances surrounding the unexplained death of an elderly male in the Carlow area on Friday morning.

“The services of the Garda Technical Bureau and the Office of the State Pathologist have been requested,” they said.

“A post-mortem will be conducted by the Office of the State Pathologist, the results of which will determine the course of the investigation.

“No further information is available at this time.”

Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported that earlier in the day, a man had called in to the post office on Staplestown Road and asked to collect a pension on behalf of an elderly man.

That request was refused as staff told him the pensioner had to be present in order to release the money.

A short time later, two men arrived back with a man aged in his 60s who "collapsed" in the post office.

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. NationalWorld is a new national news brand, produced by a team of journalists, editors, video producers and designers who live and work across the UK. Find out more about who’s who in the team, and our editorial values. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going. You can also sign up to our email newsletters and get a curated selection of our best reads to your inbox every day.