Updated 08.30pm

THE POST-MORTEM of a man and a woman who were killed yesterday in Donegal is set to take place this morning.

A man is still being held in Buncrana Garda station after the bodies were discovered in a property on the Inishowen peninsula.

Gardaí told TheJournal.ie that the bodies were discovered just after 9am yesterday at their home in Carndonagh. A man, who is 42, was taken into custody a short time later and is being held for questioning by gardaí in Buncrana.

Both victims are in their 70s. They have been named locally as Jimmy and Kathleen Cuddihy.

The two had been well known in the local area. Jimmy Cuddihy had been a prominent member of Ballyliffin Golf Club.

Jimmy Cuddihy was a metalwork teacher in the area.

The pair suffered violent deaths and a hatchet was found at the scene.

Highland Radio has reported that the news spread through the community at about 10am and there is considerable shock in the town.

Speaking to local reporter Barry Whyte, neighbours said they were speechless, stunned and horrified.

“Jimmy would have taught me at school. [He was] a metal work teacher,” said one.

“Shocked, devastated,” another told him, describing Kathleen Cuddihy as a “nice, quietly spoken” woman.

“You don’t expect it at all,” said another resident who described Carndonagh as a small town. “We’re stunned. And very sad.”

“You just go numb. It’s hard to understand.”

Investigations are continuing.

First published 10.58am – 24/10/2014