Conmen take a corpse to post office – and try to claim his pension
TWO men propped a corpse up against a post office counter in a bid to collect the dead man’s pension.
Their ghoulish scam was only foiled when staff became concerned about the pale appearance of Peadar Doyle, prompting the men to drop the body and flee.
The retired painter and decorator was pronounced dead at the scene in Carlow, Ireland, last Friday.
Sources say the men later told police that the 66-year-old was still alive on the three-minute ‘walk’ from his home to the post office, but collapsed and died once inside.
It is understood that a man had tried to claim the money earlier in the day, but was told Mr Doyle would either have had to provide written permission – or turn up in person.
Shortly afterwards, he returned with a friend and Mr Doyle, his feet dragging along the ground behind him. Witnesses told investigators that the pair, who are believed to have addiction issues, even lifted Mr Doyle’s hand in the air to make it look as if he waved.
Garda officers initially suspected Doyle had been dead for two days before the shocking incident, but preliminary post mortem results last night indicated he died earlier the same morning.
A source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘There were four or five people queuing outside on the street, but the two men jumped the queue and went right up to the counter at the back of the shop.
‘Paedar looked unconscious, but the two men propped him up at the counter. The cashier said he “doesn’t look great”, but one of the men said he “was grand” and that he and his pal were going to bring him to hospital after he got his pension. But everyone in the post office knew from the look of Peader that he was dead.’
Detectives are now attempting to establish what laws were broken during the incident.
Ken Murnane, the Mayor of CarMr low, said: ‘I cannot believe anyone would do something like that. It beggars belief, I’m just shocked. It’s like a Hitchcock movie.’
Local councillor Fergal Brown said the incident was ‘very upsetting for everyone locally’ and that Mr Doyle had been a ‘decent guy, very well regarded’.
He added: You couldn’t make up what happened. It’s unreal. Whoever did this was not rational.’
A priest was also called to the post office to bless the dead man.
A Garda spokesman said an investigation into the ‘unexplained’ death was under way and a full post mortem would be conducted to establish the cause of death.