Seven die in Irish double murder tragedies

One family was knifed to death in the west of Ireland when a man allegedly stabbed his three-year-old son, a five-month-old girl, their mother and her friend.

Earlier, a father-of-two strangled his seven-year-old and two-year-old daughters before killing himself in a village on the south coast.

There was nothing to connect the two horrific incidents but the violence in both has left officials in the country stunned.

The prime suspect in the quadruple murder in Newcastle West, Co Limerick, was arrested a few hours after the bodies of his ex-partner, Sarah Hines, 25, their son Reece and daughter Amy were found along with a 21-year-old female friend.

The children were found stabbed to death in bloodstained rooms in the downstairs of a rented home in the Hazlegrove estate and the women upstairs.

The horrific killings were uncovered as detectives attempted to piece together the movements of a father-of-two after a suspected murder-suicide in Co Cork.

Unemployed John Butler, 43, strangled his girls, Zoe and Ella, before he doused his car in petrol and drove it at high speed into a ditch two miles from the family bungalow overlooking Ballycotton fishing port.

Local gardai found the two girls dead in the living room minutes after finding the car ablaze.

It is believed the father, a former steel worker and builder who had not worked for several months, attacked them after their mother Oonagh left for work in the Revenue offices in Cork city.

Both houses were sealed off as forensic experts from the State Pathologists office were called in.

Health chiefs arranged for counsellors to support relatives and friends in both communities to come to terms with the deaths.

The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said the tragedies raised concerns about child protection and family support.