A POSTMORTEM was carried out yesterday on the remains of Olympic boxer Darren Sutherland at the request of his family.
The bronze medallist, who was from Navan, was found dead in a London flat last year and the first anniversary of his death is later this month. It appeared he had taken his own life and the police did not treat his death as suspicious.
His family have spoken of their unhappiness with the results of the original postmortem and in June they were granted a licence by Meath County Council for the exhumation of the 27-year-old’s remains.
It’s understood that none of Sutherland’s family attended St Finian’s cemetery at 5am yesterday when the exhumation began. The grave and a number of those either side of it were screened from public view, leaving only the roof of a mini-digger visible to passers-by.
Gardaí from Navan kept a low-key presence at the graveyard and it remained closed to the public until his remains were reinterred yesterday afternoon.
The coffin was taken to the mortuary at Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan, where an independent pathologist carried out the postmortem at the family’s request.
It began at about 9am and finished just after lunchtime. After his remains were returned to their resting place it is understood the grave was blessed by a priest.
It is not known when the pathologist’s findings will be given to the family.