Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Lough Neagh Elk skull is the ‘best in years’
A GREAT Irish Elk skull fished out of Lough Neagh has been described as “the best” an expert has seen in decades.
Fisherman Raymond Mcelroy said he was “shocked” when it came up the side of his boat in a net.
The fossil was found in the water between Salterstown Castle and Ballyronan, Co Derry, as the fisherman was looking for pollan on Wednesday.
The Ulster Museum’s Dr Michael Simms said Great Irish Elk roamed Ireland’s grass plains from about 17,000 years ago.
He added: “Environmental changes caused their extinction around 11,000 years ago.
“[The skull] is the first really good one I have seen in 20 years.” CRANBERRIES star Dolores O’riordan may have been in the midst of an “episode of mania” when she drowned in a hotel bath, her inquest was told.
The 46-year-old’s body was found inside room 2005 at London’s plush Hilton Park Lane by a cleaner.
She was lying in the bath in her pyjamas.
At the hearing yesterday her death on January 15 was blamed on accidental drowning with a contributing factor of alcohol intoxication.
PC Natalie Smart, who attended the scene, told the court: “I saw Mrs O’riordan submerged in the bath with her nose and mouth fully under the water.”
Dolores was pronounced dead at 9.16am. A postmortem found she had a large volume of alcohol in her blood.
Police found the singer, from Ballybricken in Co Limerick, had checked into the hotel on January 14.
She had accessed the minibar in her room at 2am and then called her mother Eileen O’riordan an hour later.
What happened from then until her body was discovered remains a mystery.
CONCERNS
Westminster coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe described the star’s death as a “tragic accident” despite evidence she had considered taking her life months earlier.
It was also revealed her partner, who was staying in the next room, had raised concerns about her drinking.
Dr Radcliffe said: “She was looking forward to the future with a considerable number of plans, looking forward to her professional life and the release of two albums and seeing her children in Canada.
“She checked into the Hilton Hotel on January 14 and on January 15 in the morning she was found deceased in the bath in the hotel room.
“An investigation by the police reveals the minibar was activated at about 2am and there was evidence of a number of empty alcohol containers in the room.”
She added the amount drunk was “such a level that unconsciousness can occur”.
The inquest, sitting on what would have been the singer’s 47th birthday, was told officers found five miniature bottles of alcohol and an empty 35cl bottle of Champagne in the room.
There were also cigarettes and some packaging for medication.
However, PC Smart said a search did not uncover a suicide note.
Toxicology reports confirmed Dolores