A post-mortem into the death of an elderly Athlone man found he died of natural causes, gardai said last night. The body of Mr Patrick D'Arcy (71) was discovered on Tuesday night by a passer-by in the centre of the town. Initially gardai treated the death as suspicious, and a post-mortem was called for. The man had sustained head injuries along with other injuries to his right hand and ring finger, gardai said. Mr D'Arcy had had a heart condition.
Yesterday friends and neighbours of Mr D'Arcy recalled him as a "quiet, inoffensive man", who had been "wrapped up in his family". They said it was likely he had died while taking his customary evening stroll around the town.
His barber, Mr Hugh Lawlor, said: "He had been very upset since his wife died in February. He nursed her through a long illness which took a lot out of him. He was pretty frail." Mr D'Arcy was born in Offaly and, with his wife, settled in Athlone, where he established himself as a builder. The couple had one daughter, Teresa, now married in Cork.
According to friends it was unlikely that Mr D'Arcy "had an enemy in the world". The local shop owner, Ms Mary Milton, remembered how active he had been: "He was always painting, Patrick was very house proud."
Another neighbour, Ms Claire Gill, said that what she recalled most was a ritual he enacted annually in preparation for winter. "Every summer a huge, big ton of turf would arrive and Patrick would spend days outside the house storing it away."