THE DECOMPOSING BODIES of a woman and her partner were found “black and rotten” by a gang of Travellers, who broke into a house in rural Limerick and discovered the two corpses.

Details of the discovery of the bodies of Julia Holmes (63), and father of two Thomas Ruttle (53), last year, were heard at their inquest today.

Medical evidence from a pathological report into the couple’s deaths could not confirm how they died, however Coroner Antoinette Simon, said she accepted all of the evidence pointed to death by suicide.

Property frauds

Holmes, from Tyrone, was wanted by the FBI and the PSNI for a series of property frauds. She had served time in jail in Texas for a $500,000 fraud.

Holmes, who was married to two other men when she tried to marry Thomas Ruttle, had falsely claimed she had cancer.

She ran up debts of €70,000 with builders in West Limerick who had performed improvement works at the Ruttle home.

Thomas Ruttle had no involvement in any of Holmes’ crimes.

The Coroner said she was satisfied Holmes and Ruttle both died of “an asphyxia type death due to carbon monoxide poisoning”.

“The bedroom was deliberately staged to induce carbon monoxide poisoning,” the coroner said.

No third party was involved and there was no sign of trauma to the bodies.

Ruttle farmhouse

PA Archive / Press Association Images PA Archive / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

Sergeant Gearoid Thompson gave testimony that “members of the Harty family”, a Traveller clan from Askeaton, told him they had been “looking for scrap metal” at the Ruttle farmhouse but instead they “found two dead bodies”.

Sergeant Thompson said Pa Harty told him the bodies were “black and rotten”.

When Sergeant Thompson went to the house he said he noticed a strong “smell of dead bodies”.

He found the bodies lying next to each other on a double bed.

State Pathologist, Professor Marie Cassidy noted Thomas Ruttle was “lying on his back with his right leg hanging over the bed”.

She said his leg was “resting” on a .22 rifle, which was loaded with two cartridges.

The rifle had not been fired, nor had another shotgun -also found in the bedroom – the court heard.

Prof Cassidy noted “mould” on Ruttle’s beard, face and hands. She also noted the presence of “maggots” around both bodies.

Julia Holmes, whose family did not attend the inquest, was located “face down” on the bed and “dressed in pyjamas”.

Thomas Ruttle’s sister, Jane Gardner, wept as she listened to the last moments of her beloved brother’s life. Her husband John Gardener thanked the jury and the gardaí.

The coroner said it was “the most tragic of circumstances and saddening of situations”.

Suicide notes left at the house were not read out.

Thomas Ruttle’s children shed tears as they listened to the evidence.

They were accompanied by their mother and grandparents.

Speaking afterwards, the father of Thomas Ruttle’s ex-partner, Ted Knight, described the events as “horrific” and said Holmes had been a “vile person”.

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