The French couple found dead after what is being treated as a murder-suicide in their Tipperary cottage on Monday are believed to have died at least two days earlier.
Gardai said yesterday they were not seeking anyone in connection with the deaths. They have not officially declared it a murder-suicide, but are satisfied Louis Bergeron (53) killed his wife, Chantal (42), with a single shot from his legally-held double-barrelled shotgun and then shot himself. The bodies were found by a gardai at the couple's cottage near Cahir, Co Tipperary.
There was some evidence of domestic violence before the shootings and evidence that Mrs Bergeron may have been beaten, a senior garda source said.
It is believed Mr Bergeron had a slight disability and did not work. His wife worked as a dressmaker in a shop in Clonmel called Stitches.
Officials at the French embassy were said to be organising the return of the bodies, after they were released by the coroner yesterday. The preliminary postmortem results showed both had died from single gunshot wounds, one to the head and the second to the neck.
The two were last seen on Thursday evening, and are believed to have died some time later that evening or the following day. The post-mortems by the Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, ended early yesterday.
The Bergerons had bought their cottage two years ago, and moved in just over a year ago. Their two daughters, one in her early 20s and married, and the other a teenager, had been living in France.
Gardai said officers had still to be completely satisfied that it was a case of murder-suicide. The house was being examined and the post-mortems indicated Mr Bergeron's wounds were self-inflicted. "A lot of work has to be done to establish that definitively. Until then it will be treated the same as a murder case."
One of the two dead people is believed to have been alive for a few hours after the shots were fired. Mr Bergeron was found inside the door of the cottage, and his wife's body in a back bedroom.
Gardai are believed to be investigating every possible angle after French criticism of the investigation into the murder of Ms Sophie Toscan du Plantier in west Cork in 1996.
