Could couple found dead in remote Irish cottage have links to Norfolk?

Police believe the bodies of Nicholas Smith, 81, and his wife, Hilary Smith, 79, may have lain undiscovered for 18 months before they were found at the remote cottage near the village of Cloneen, in County Tipperary.

Officers from the Gardai - the Irish police - have been investigating the mystery since making the grim discovery on June 20, and have contacted police forces in the UK through Interpol in an effort to trace relatives of the pair. But to date, no next of kin has been notified.

Neighbours told the Irish Examiner that Mr Smith had revealed that he came from Norwich and had a brother he had not seen for 20 years.

Nicholas Smith had lived at the remote bungalow with his wife Hilary for a decade but had told neighbours he was originally from Norwich (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)

Mr Smith is reported to have told other neighbours that he had served in the Falklands War and that both he and his wife worked on cruise ships in Australia before retiring to Ireland. They are not believed to have had children.

The Gardai said enquiries and investigations to establish relatives are “still ongoing” but further details could not be released “due to operational reasons”.

Norfolk police were unable to confirm whether they had been contacted as part of the investigations.

Police went to the couple's home after neighbours became concerned for the wellbeing of the couple, who had not been seen since late 2020.

Dates on items in the fridge suggest the couple may have been dead since November or December 2020 with locals in the rural community believing they had moved to France during the pandemic.

Police believe the couple may have died in late 2020 but their bodies had laid undiscovered (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)

Despite the bodies being found in different rooms of the bungalow, detectives have ruled out a suicide pact and a murder-suicide, after the post mortem examination showed Mr Smith died from natural causes.

Officers believe Mrs Smith may have died due to illness, but her post-mortem examination proved medically inconclusive.

The couple were said to have been inseparable but to have rarely ventured out of the house.

Next-door-neighbour Sean Morrissey said: “They were a lovely couple who, like me, liked their private life. I rarely saw or spoke to them in the 10 years they were here.

“For a start, they were rarely in their front or back garden, and even if they were, there is a huge hedge and barn that separates us and the house they lived in.”