Gardaí fear a man was savagely beaten before having his head and arm cut off, with his headless corpse then dumped in the garden of a derelict Cork house.

A murder investigation was launched as Superintendent Michael Comyns issued a public appeal for information over the horrific killing.

Gardaí are now trying to determine if the victim – named locally as Francis ‘Frankie’ Dunne (64) – was killed at the Boreenmanna Road site where his headless body was found, or if he was killed elsewhere.

Mr Dunne, who was a client of Cork homeless support services, had been living locally but was originally from the Churchfield area of Cork city.

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Gardaí were last night liaising with his family.

A major search operation overnight at the property resulted in the recovery of the missing body parts.

Supt Comyns urged people to help gardaí with their enquiries – and added it was such a busy area that someone must have seen something vital to the officers’ ongoing investigation.

“We are appealing for any persons who may have passed on Boreenmanna Road over the last number of days, going back to Christmas Day, if they had seen any activity around this derelict house, to please contact us,” he said.

Supt Comyns said gardaí wanted to speak to motorists, drivers with dash cams, pedestrians and locals who had been in the quiet residential area since December 25.

“We can say there were severe injuries but we do not know the full extent of them. I would ask that any speculation that has been going on since yesterday evening, it is not helpful to our investigation.”

Supt Comyns also said that anyone with information had nothing to fear from coming forward.

Gardaí still have no idea how long the body was in the garden.

“We are hoping that the post-mortem will help us out with that but it isn’t there long term,” he added.

The body was found in undergrowth in the garden of a derelict property, 19th-century Castlegreina House, known locally as ‘The Castle’, which has been unoccupied for several years.

Locum assistant State pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers visited the scene yesterday morning and later conducted a post-mortem examination at Cork University Hospital (CUH) on the body and body parts.

The deceased had not been seen around the city since after St Stephen’s Day.

The alarm was raised by a shocked local at 4pm on Saturday. Initial indications are that the man may have been lying dead outside for between two and four days.

There were signs of violent trauma to the body.

The area was immediately cordoned off to allow a full forensic examination by members of the Garda Technical Bureau.

The site is just metres from the busy South Link Road and only a short walk from Pairc Uí Rinn and Cork Constitution rugby club.

The property has been the target of vandals and suffered numerous instances of anti-social behaviour.

A Garda source confirmed that officers had attended call-outs in the area following complaints of anti-social behaviour over the course of the year.

These included people engaged in drinking parties in the garden of the derelict house.

However, gardaí had not been called to any incidents at the location for several weeks.

Officers have now set up a special incident room at Angelsea Street garda station.

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