Two men walk into a post office with a corpse ... it’s a grave situation
TWO men took a corpse into a post office in Ireland and propped it against the counter in an attempt to claim the dead man’s pension.
Police said the men had initially tried to claim the pension without the body, only for staff to tell them the recipient would have to be present for anyone to collect it.
They then returned with the body on Friday. Employees at Hosey’s post office in Carlow expressed concern about the wellbeing of the man “being propped up” against the counter, prompting the pair to flee and leave him behind.
The dead man was named locally as Peadar Doyle, 66. It is understood the two suspects had wrapped a jumper around his face and placed a hat on his head to disguise his real condition.
Police have described the case as “very sad”, with a source adding: “To think someone wanted the pension so badly that they did this.” They said that there was no evidence of foul play.
Post office staff called the emergency services after the two men fled. An ambulance crew arrived shortly afterwards and the man was declared dead at the scene. A house in the town, believed to belong to him, was later sealed off by police.
It is also understood that CCTV cameras were in operation in the post office at the time of the incident.
The dead man is alleged to have known the two suspects who were both described as being younger than him.
A post mortem is to be conducted shortly to establish the cause of death and confirm whether the man was dead before he was brought to the post office.
Ken Murnane, the mayor of Carlow, said: “I cannot believe anyone would do something like that. It beggars belief, I’m just shocked. It’s like a Hitchcock movie.”
“It’s all anyone has been talking about … it is unbelievable,” said a woman working in a beauty salon across the road from the post office.
Another woman, whose daughter saw the man being carried into the post office, said people had thought he was suffering from a heart attack. “She was leaving my house at the time and said the man looked unwell as his feet were dragging the ground,” the woman said. “It’s a small shop and you’re only allowed three at a time with social distancing. People were in shock as they thought he was after having a heart attack.”
Fergal Browne, a Fine Gael councillor, said the incident had been “very upsetting for everyone locally”.
He said the deceased was a “decent guy, very well regarded and liked and caused no offence to anybody. You couldn’t make up what happened.”