THE BODY of a 33-year-old man was recovered from a flat in Castlebar, Co Mayo, yesterday following the outbreak of a fire.
The dead man, Colin Gillespie, was a son of Tom Gillespie, editor of the Connaught Telegraphnewspaper, and his wife Mavourneen. He had been living for some time at the flat in Rush Street on the north side of the town.
It is understood the owner of the premises in which the one-bedroom flat is located raised the alarm at about 4.40pm. He went to the scene after being informed a fire alarm was sounding in the upstairs area of the building.
The ground floor of the building is occupied by Flynn’s licensed premises.
Mr Gillespie’s body was found in the bedroom by firemen who broke into the flat. There was extensive fire and smoke damage to the sitting room area.
It is understood gardaí are not treating the death as suspicious. A forensic examination of the scene began before the body was removed yesterday evening to Mayo General Hospital, where a postmortem will be carried out today.
As well as being an occasional musician, Mr Gillespie was a talented painter and decorator. He lost his only brother, Darragh, in December 2008 when he died suddenly within weeks of what would have been his 35th birthday.
Mr Gillespie is survived by his parents, sisters Rowena, Emma, Ineka, Lenore and their families.