The death of Bridget “Biddy” O’Brien (45), whose body was found with that of her partner at their Co Wicklow home on Wednesday, remains unexplained, as there were no obvious indications she had suffered violence.
Gardaí have not ruled out the possibility she was discovered deceased at the house by her partner Jamie McGinn (38), who may then have taken his own life in the garden, where his body was found.
The bodies of the couple, who are said to have “lived for each other”, were discovered at their home on the Cois Cairn estate, Old Connaught Avenue, north Bray, at about 8am yesterday.
The scene was immediately sealed off and the resources of a murder inquiry were put in place, but no clear evidence of murder has emerged. Gardaí believe nobody else was at the property when the couple died and are yet to find any evidence of third-party involvement.
McGinn had suffered wounds that were fatal but which may have been self-inflicted. O’Brien’s remains were discovered in bed at the same time, but gardaí believe she may have died some time before McGinn.
Sources said the results of the postmortem examinations on the remains of both, including toxicology tests, were required before a clear picture would emerge.
The couple had suffered addiction issues in the years since they lost their two children, Jordan (4) and Holly (3), in a fire in Dublin in 2017. O’Brien had been badly burned in that fire and though she survived, she suffered extensive burns that were life-changing.
The blaze was at a facility for women moving on from domestic violence, which they had been visiting. O’Brien’s cousin Anne-Marie O’Brien (27), her daughter Hannah-Paris (2) and her unborn son AJ also died in the Clondalkin fire.
Biddy O’Brien was the only survivor, and missed the funerals of her two children. She only learned her children had died about six weeks after the incident. During her long stay in hospital, McGinn maintained a vigil at her bedside.
Jim O’Brien, a relative and co-ordinator of the Bray Travellers Community Development Group, said the organisation was “devastated” by the deaths “of two very loved member of the community”.
“All we say at this stage is that we send our deepest, deepest, deepest condolences to both the families. They are both well-respected families and we offer all the support we can to them,” he said.
Garda Headquarters said the scene in Bray would remain sealed off for further examination by the Garda Technical Bureau today.
“The bodies of both have been removed to the City Morgue at Whitehall, where a postmortem examination will be completed by State Pathologist Dr Sally Anne Collis,” it said. “The results of the postmortem examination will assist gardaí in determining the course of the investigation going forward.”
McGinn’s drug habit led him to incurring a debt of €8,000 with a drugs gang, which then pressured him into storing cocaine and cannabis at his home in Bray. The drugs, worth almost €200,000, were found during a Garda raid three years ago.
Although a 4½-year sentence was imposed, the final three years were suspended due to the exceptional background and circumstances of his life. The court was told he was a law-abiding person who turned to drugs to deal with the trauma of losing his children.
O’Brien was close to the Lynch and Gilbert families in Fassaroe, Bray, who lost 10 family members in the fire at a Traveller site in Carrickmines, Dublin, in October 2015.
Harry Gilbert, whose daughter Tara (27) and granddaughters Jodie (9) and Kelsey (4) died in the 2015 blaze, lives near the home of the dead couple, and knew them well.
“I would consider myself their neighbour. They were a lovely couple. I would talk to Jamie from time to time. They went through the same thing I went through, losing their two children in a fire.”