Overview
- Dublin District Coroner’s Court recorded an accidental death verdict for the 81-year-old, who collapsed in a rehabilitation facility and was pronounced dead at the Mater Hospital on April 22, 2024.
- A post-mortem found hypovolemic shock after about two litres of internal bleeding caused by an injury to his spleen.
- Pathologist Eamon Leen said a fall most likely caused the injury, and the coroner accepted it could also have followed minor trauma given his blood thinners and chronic illnesses.
- Hospital evidence described six falls over roughly a month, including a home fall that broke ribs and a lumbar vertebra, after which he was sent to Clontarf Hospital and later became unresponsive on a commode despite resuscitation attempts.
- The inquest noted his daughter had been helping care for him, while public interest stems from his past as a leading heroin trafficker in Dublin with major convictions, including a 20-year sentence in 1996.