A coroner has told of his concern after an inquest heard an 84-year-old bachelor lay dead in his home for seven months.
Richie Scanlon’s decomposed body was discovered by his sister and nephew who let themselves into the property and raised the alarm on July 19.
Decomposition was accelerated by an electric heater which was still on at the house Madden’s Buildings on the northside of Cork city.
Coroner Philip Comyn said: “It seems very strange that a man didn’t collect his pension and that didn’t trigger any alarm bells.
“The fact that he was a man of routine who went to the pub twice a week and went to the bookies.
“I find it troubling in this age of mass communication this poor gentleman slipped through the cracks.”
Mr Comyn acknowledged the family had done the best they could for the lifelong bachelor given his reclusive nature.
Mr Scanlon had been cared for by a sister and when she died in 2001 the family tried to maintain contact.
His nephew Denis Cronin told the Coroner’s Court: “He kept himself to himself. He wouldn’t have attended weddings. He didn’t like a fuss.”
Mr Cronin said his uncle didn’t want to take help from outsiders and declined to engage with Meals On Wheels.
It wasn’t unusual for him to go for long periods without contacting his family and his relatives would have to initiate the conversation.
Joe O’Mahony, who is also a nephew of the late pensioner, said he went to the property with his mother at 11.30am on the 19th of June 2019.
He let himself in with a key and found Ritchie dead on the floor.
Garda Eric Stafford, who attended at the scene, said there was no sign of forced entry.
The earliest unopened letter was from January 9. The house was without a landline and Mr Scanlon refused to have a mobile phone.
