Probe into Joe's death is rejected

Family called for forensic inquiry in case of farmer who died day after he got wed

- BY SEAN MCCARTHAIGH

A CORONER has rejected calls to refer the death of a farmer the day after he got married to gardai for a forensic inquiry.

It came at the end of an inquest into the death of Joe Grogan, 75, who died at his home in Screggan, Tullamore, Co Offaly, on April 15, 2023 hours after he married his part-time carer Lisa Flaherty.

His relatives were unaware they were even in a relationship.

Offaly Coroner's Court heard mother of three Ms Flaherty, who was 26 years his junior, will inherit the €5.5 million, 220-acre farm which had hosted the National Ploughing Championships.

It heard Mr Grogan's cause of death could not be determined as the body was embalmed before postmortem.

Mr Grogan had stage IV non-Hodgkin lymphoma in January 2023 and responded well to treatment, although Ms Flaherty testified that he believed he was dying.

INFECTION

Yesterday, Damien Tansey, counsel for the deceased's cousins - Alo, Margaret and Sean Grogan - urged coroner Raymond Mahon not to return a verdict and to refer the matter to the DPP for a forensic examination of Mr Grogan's death.

Peter Jones, a solicitor for an aunt of the deceased, Teresa Mooney, also asked the coroner to refer the death to gardai and to return an open verdict.