Murder hunt after homeless man found beaten to death close to his burning tent – Mirror Online, Mirror

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A homeless man was found beaten to death close to his burning tent.

Timmy Hourihane was discovered unconscious in Cork, Ireland, with injuries to his head and body.

The victim, who was in his 50 s, was found by members of the fire brigade yesterday.

Other homeless people had raised the alarm at 12. 45 am.

Mr Hourihane, a former chef who had battled alcohol addiction, was taken by ambulance to hospital where he died, theIrish Mirrorreports.

Police have launched a murder investigation.

Caitriona Twomey, who runs the Penny Dinners charity and knew the victim, said she was deeply saddened by the tragedy.

She added: “It’s horrific and everybody is shocked by it.

“ There’s a family grieving now under the most horrific of circumstances and that’s the hard part of it.

“At Cork Penny Dinners we don’t usually like to talk when someone has died, but what we will say is this now is a warning to the Government to do something about the homeless crisis.

“And it’s not housing alone that’s needed, we need to have treatment centers.

“We need to have all the support services to help people get back on their feet. It’s getting worse and worse in the city.”

Ms Twomey estimates there are more than 30 people living in tents in the city and this is a warning to the Government that it must do more.

She added: “There’s a huge amount to look at and a huge amount for the Government [to do].

“They’re not taking this serious at all, if they were we wouldn’t be having this death today, probably.”

Christina Chalmers, from Helping Cork’s Homeless, said: “I’m in total shock. I’m devastated. We were very close and he was very close to my family and children.”

Police have started interviews with potential witnesses and those living in the area where tents have sprung up in recent months.

Individuals living in the area are from Ireland, England and Eastern Europe.

A motive for the attack is

Superintendent Michael Comyns said: “We are appealing for witnesses.

“This area at night. There are a lot of people on foot around here and traffic. We are appealing for anyone who was in the area from 11 pm to 1am to contact us and particularly if they saw anything of a suspicious nature or anything at all really to contact us .

“It is an homicide investigation. For operational reasons we are not going to release information on the injuries but he does have injuries consistent with being assaulted. ”