Monster sex killer dies in house blaze

Brute Downey found dead at scene

- GAVIN O'CALLAGHAN and JOE O'SHEA

THE man who lost his life in a house fire was a 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 property on West Douglas Road in Cork following the blaze on Tuesday.

In 2004, Downey – then 39 – was jailed for 12 years after a trial in the Central Criminal Court heard that he had broken into a woman’s flat in Cork city while she was sleeping and sexually assaulted her.

His victim was woken in her apartment to find a half-naked man standing at the end of her bed.