Two men arrested after 'dead' man brought into post office in Carlow to collect pension

The duo aged in their 30s are being held at different garda stations in the Kilkenny/Carlow garda division.

They are being questioned about one criminal offence which is deception and can carry a jail term of up to five years on conviction.

The men have not been charged with any offence.

Peader Doyle (66) was carried into a Carlow post office by the men on Friday morning before staff became concerned for his welfare and realised he was deceased.

A post-mortem examination has ruled out any foul play and established that he died shortly before the bizarre incident.

An exact cause of death for Mr Doyle has yet to be determined but it is understood that he had suffered ill health in recent times.

The two men are alleged to have tried to claim Mr Doyle's pension before they were confronted by staff.

The bizarre and tragic incident has made international headlines and has been the focus of a massive garda investigation.

Since the incident, the two men have spoken publicly to deny Mr Doyle was dead when they left his home in Carlow.

One of the men, Gareth Coakley, told the Sunday World they had given the deceased man, "a glass of water to drink before we left."

Peader's nephew Declan Haughney, who was also at the post office, was bleeding freely from a number of facial wounds as he told this newspaper he had been 'attacked' over what had been said about him on social media.

Gareth continued: "The papers are saying he was already dead but that's bullsh*t.

"He was alive - 100 per cent.

"We're hardly going to drag a dead man down the road, for f**k sake. He was still alive, and the autopsy will prove there was water in his system and what time he died.

"What's going on social media is destroying me family name!

"And that's the reason I went down to the Garda station and the garda shook our hands and said thanks for the information."

The other man, Declan Haughney carried Mr Doyle’s coffin at his funeral mass on Monday and has already given a voluntary statement to gardai in which he claimed that Mr Doyle was alive before he was brought to the post office.

Mr Doyle was laid to rest at St Mary’s Cemetery after a Funeral Mass at the Church of the Holy Family in Askea at 11am on Monday morning.

The funeral was attended by a small gathering of family and friends of the man, who had an address in the Pollerton Road area of Carlow Town.

Gardai believe that he died in a bedroom of that property on Friday.

A vigil was held for Mr Doyle in Carlow Town on Sunday night and he was described locally as a “quiet, decent man”.

Peader will be sadly missed by his sister Noeleen, brothers-in-law Liam and Christopher, nephews, nieces, grand-nephews, grand-nieces, relatives and friends, a death notice said.