Irish Police Investigate After 2 Men Allegedly Brought Dead Body to Post Office to Claim Pension

Undated photo of police tape. (Peter Byrne/PA)

Police are investigating the allegation that the body of an elderly man was brought to a post office in Southeast Ireland on Friday for his pension.

A Garda (Irish Police) spokesperson confirmed the investigation and said a post-mortem will be conducted.

The deceased, identified in local newspapers as Peadar Doyle as in his 60s or 70s, was seen propped up by two men who brought him into Hosey’s—a corner shop with a post office inside—in Carlow town.

According to the Daily Star, one of the men went to the post office earlier, at around 11:30 a.m., to claim the weekly pension, only to be told the pensioner himself needed to be present. He then returned with two men, one of whom “appeared to be propped up.”

The Irish Mirror reported that one of the men told a staff member that the elderly man was ok and that they were going to “bring him down to the hospital” when they got the money.

Police were reportedly alerted about “an unconscious man being carried into a post office,” where the police and an ambulance “discovered the man was dead.”

A Garda spokesperson said officers are investigating all the circumstances surrounding the unexplained death of an elderly male in the Carlow area on Friday morning.

“The services of the Garda Technical Bureau and the Office of the State Pathologist have been requested,” the spokesperson said.

“A post-mortem will be conducted by the Office of the State Pathologist, the results of which will determine the course of the investigation.”

No further information was released by the police.

Carlow Mayor Ken Murnane said the local community is absolutely shocked by the reports.

“The whole town is in shock that anyone could actually think of doing something like that, it’s unbelievable,” he told the PA news agency.

“It’s just mind-boggling that anyone could happen to do something like that, it beggars belief. It’s like a Hitchcock movie.”

PA contributed to this report.