The man who died in a house fire in the Douglas area of Cork on Tuesday afternoon was a convicted killer who had been jailed twice for violent crimes against women, it has emerged.
Conor Downey, 57, was pronounced dead after being found in his home on West Douglas Road following the blaze on Tuesday.
CorkBeo reports that in 2004, Downey (then 39) was jailed for 12 years after a trial in the Central Criminal Court in Dublin heard that he had broken into a woman's flat in Cork city while she was sleeping, sexually assaulted her and beat her so badly that when she arrived at a nearby Garda station, officers thought she was 'wearing a Halloween mask'.
