Gardaí have begun an investigation into the death of a man in his late 40s, whose body was found in a house in Skibbeeen in West Cork early this morning.
Gardaí say that they are treating the death of the English national as suspicious, pending the outcome of a technical examination and post-mortem later today.
The man’s body was found around 9am this morning by the man’s partner in the living room area of the house that they were renting at High Street in the town, near the garda station.
The emergency services were alerted and the man was pronounced dead at the scene and gardaí were called and they immediately cordoned off the area and began an investigation.
Gardaí under Sup Ger O'Mahony of Clonakilty Garda Station requested the services of both the Garda Technical Bureau from Dublin and the State Pathologist's Office to carry out examinations.
The man's body remains at the scene pending the arrival of State pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, who is travelling from Dublin to carry out the post-mortem examination at Cork University Hospital.
The man has a number of injuries but gardaí have not discounted the possibility that he may have suffered them in a fall and are hoping the post-mortem will establish exactly how he died.
A preliminary examination of the scene revealed no sign of forced entry even though there was some disarray in the house and gardaí are hoping the technical examination will assist in this regard.
The man, who has been living in West Cork for many years, has only lived in the rented two storey terraced house for a number of months with his partner.
Gardaí have begun door to door inquiries in the area and around Skibbereen town and initial inquiries, subject to confirmation, suggest that the man was last seen alive late last night.
