The deaths of an elderly couple at a house in Newry are not being treated as suspicious, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has said.
The bodies of the couple, who have been named locally as Jim and Mary McLaughlin, were discovered at a property in the Greenan Road area on Thursday after concerns about their wellbeing were reported to police.
The PSNI said it is believed the deaths may have occurred some time ago.
“A postmortem has taken place and the deaths are not being treated as suspicious at this time, however enquiries are ongoing,” a PSNI spokesperson said on Sunday.
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The alarm was raised by a postman who had not seen Mr and Mrs McLaughlin for some time and reported his concerns to police.
Television footage of the property following the tragedy showed the garden and path had become overgrown.
SDLP councillor Declan McAteer, who lives not far from the McLaughlins, told The Irish Times said the couple had kept to themselves and neighbours said it had been “a long time” since anyone had seen them.
He said the tragedy “came to light through the postman who had been calling, and I think he asked the neighbours had they seen them, and then that’s how the alarm was raised.
“It’s much to his credit for doing that, for having the kind disposition and the decency to take the time and make enquiries.”
The reaction in the area was one of shock and sadness, Mr McAteer said. “People find it incredible really that in this day and age that could happen, and happen in people’s midst, in the midst of the community.
“Generally, it’s a very close-knit community,” he said, but in the absence of close family ties or relationships with neighbours, “people are saying, doesn’t it show you how easily something like that can happen?”
It has been reported the McLaughlins lived in England for many years before returning to Co Down. Mr McAteer said they had no children, but he believed efforts were being made to trace relatives.
Local woman Bernie Downey, who came to lay a bouquet of flowers at the front gate, told RTÉ she was “sorry to hear that would happen in our neighbourhood because these were two quiet, civil, very private people that never really mixed a lot,” she said.
“And it’s just sad if they weren’t well or that, that they didn’t have the wherewithal to contact somebody,” she said.
Sinn Féin Assembly member Sinéad Ennis described the couple’s deaths as “heartbreaking news” and said the local community was “deeply shocked and saddened.
“My thoughts are with all those affected by this tragic loss,” she said.
