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The son of a retired couple butchered to death in their home was being questioned by gardai last night.

Julian Cuddihy, 42, was arrested after his pensioner parents Jimmy and Kathleen were attacked with an axe in a savage double murder.

Their bodies were found by another son James, and a builder renovating their Co Donegal home.

The tradesman last night spoke of his horror at finding the popular couple butchered in their own home.

He said: “It was just horrific. I can’t really speak about it because it was just so shocking.

“The attacker used an axe. I just saw them there. I can’t really describe what I saw because I found it all so hard to take in.

“It just keeps going through my head – those images of them lying there. I can’t describe it. Oh God, it was just horrific.”

James lives just behind the couple’s stone-clad bungalow home on the Buncrana Road.

His brother Julian, 42, was arrested in connection with the killings and was in custody last night.

He is being questioned under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and is being interviewed at Buncrana Garda station.

Nobody else has been arrested in connection with the deaths.

Among the items recovered from the scene was an axe.

The couple, who were in their 70s, are survived by their four grown-up children Julian, James, Delila and Maureen.

Mr Cuddihy was originally from Kilkenny but had lived in Donegal for decades.

His wife, who was a former nurse, was from the area.

A retired maths and technology teacher at Carndonagh Community School, he was a past president of Ballyliffin Golf Club.

Local county councillor Martin McDermott, a past pupil of the dead man, said the entire area was numb with sadness and grief.

He added: “Like everyone else I am just numb and in shock at what has happened in Carndonagh.

“They were a lovely, quiet couple with a lovely family.

“For something like this to happen is just surreal.

“It’s like a nightmare. I was a pupil of Mr Cuddihy for three years and he was a lovely man and a very good teacher.

“They were a very respected family and our hearts just go out to them at this time.

“You hear of things like this happening in big cities but not in a place like this in rural Ireland.

“Anybody I have spoken to just cannot believe it either.

“But this is a very tightly-knit community and we will gather around the family at this time.”

Staff at the popular Tul na Ri Bar in Carndonagh where Mr Cuddihy was a regular customer were devastated by the double tragedy.

One said: “Jimmy was a really lovely man. I didn’t know his wife at all.

“He would come in most days and would have a wee whiskey and a

chat or sometimes he would just have coffee.

“He gave me maths grinds and he was a really good teacher. It’s just awful that something like this has happened.”

Son Julian, who is single, was described as “highly intelligent” by a neighbour who also revealed he had been studying mechanical engineering. The neighbour also described him as “very gentle”.

Gardai were posted at both entrances to the crime scene, which is about 500 yards from the town.

A cordon was lifted occasionally as distraught relatives arrived at the house.

The sound of loud weeping broke the silence along the country road. A young man left a floral tribute at the entrance to the property just before noon.

People passing the scene on foot and in cars blessed themselves. At around 2pm, four detectives arrived.

A short time later Greencastle-based priest Fr George McLaughlin arrived at the scene. He told reporters shortly afterwards: “This is a great tragedy and a great loss.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time.”

It is believed the entire family attended a relative’s wedding recently and nothing suggested there was anything wrong in the house.

Another neighbour, who asked not to be named, told how she saw Mrs Cuddihy at church at the weekend.

The source added: “She was a quiet lady and she had gone to mass as usual.

“They were in their twilight years and it’s just so sad to think that their lives were ended in this way.”