Coroner’s Court

Denis Donaldson inquest adjourned for ninth time…

Pete Baker on April 27, 2012, 2:58 pm

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I had lost count… There was no sudden flurry of activity, unlike that which accompanied last year’s adjournment, but yesterday a Garda Superintendent did seek, and was granted, a further 6 month adjournment of the inquest into the death of former senior Sinn Féin member Denis Donaldson in 2006 – responsibility for which was claimed by the Real IRA. From the RTÉ report Supt Michael Finan told Coroner Dr Denis McCauley in Letterkenny today that he was seeking a further adjournment of the inquest …

Irish State Pathologist: Spontaneous human combustion a “myth”

Pete Baker on November 24, 2011, 3:46 pm

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When, in September, west Galway coroner Dr Ciarán McLoughlin ruled that a 76-year-old pensioner had died as a result of spontaneous human combustion it was, unsurprisingly, widely covered. Today’s Irish Times notes the comments of Irish State Pathologist, Prof Marie Cassidy, at a separate inquest at Dublin Coroner’s Court where she is reported to have said that spontaneous combustion was “a myth and a theory that has not been valid for 500 years.” From the Irish Times report Prof Cassidy said outside the …