[2][5] His father was a doctor, who had held roles as county and city medical officer.
[5] He was a lecturer in medical jurisprudence in TCD and became the second state pathologist in 1974, succeeding Maurice Hickey.
[2][3][5] He worked on cases including the Kerry babies, Sophie Toscan du Plantier, Stardust, Brian Murphy and Grangegorman,[2] carrying out around 100 post mortems a year.
[2][3][4][6] In 1991 he was appointed Professor of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology at the Royal College of Surgeons.
[2][3][4][7] In 2006 health issues prevented him from giving testimony in court cases.