Leixlip house, Women may have been dead for weeks before bodies were discovered
The jury has returned a verdict of suicide in the case of the four women found dead in their home in Leixlip last July. Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, told the inquest that post mortem examinations showed three of the women died from starvation. The eldest woman, Frances, may have died from pneumonia brought on by food depravation. She said that their fasting was probably deliberate. It is believed Frances and her niece, Ruth, died before Josephine and finally Catherine. They may have been dead for several weeks before their bodies were found.
Earlier the inquest heard how Ruth Mulrooney had tried to stop their fast. In notes to her sister Josephine, she asked should they not seek medical help to save them from what she described as "a slow and painful hell". They had been without food for 36 days. While it was lovely to think of them descending into heaven, she said, none of them could have foreseen it would be so cruel and slow.
Ruth Mulrooney had also written to friends on 11 June. She said that these would be her last letters and left written requests for them to be passed on. The women had been sleeping in the living room of the house. Their bodies were found on makeshift beds on the floor in the living room and kitchen. It is understood the family had not been seen in public since the previous March.
