Mystery surrounds identity of man killed by his own pipe bomb in Dublin hostel

A man killed when a pipe bomb he had made exploded in his room in a Dublin homeless hostel cannot be identified, two decades after his arrival in Ireland and more than two years since his death.The man, known as Igor Dmitrov, is believed to have been aged 34 when he died at the Depaul hostel on Little Britain Street in Dublin’s north inner city in January 2024.He arrived in Ireland in late 2006 on a passport now known to have been fake.He secured a personal public service number and identification documents, using the name and other details on the passport. READ MOREHe continued to live under that identity, accessing homeless services, social welfare payments and medical treatment.Det Garda Shane D’Arcy from Dublin’s Bridewell Garda station told a coroner’s inquest the passport’s number and other details were from the passport of a Lithuanian national that was long reported lost.Those details were used to create a new, fraudulent passport for the dead man, who presented himself as Igor Dmitrov, a Lithuanian born on June 12th, 1985.D’Arcy told Dublin Coroner’s Court that when it was established the passport had been created using another person’s details, other efforts were made to establish the identity of the dead man. His phone was analysed, revealing he had been in touch with one man abroad, based in Germany. The man was contacted and said he knew the deceased as “Igor”, but from Ukraine, not Lithuania. Efforts were also made to contact a woman said to be the sister of the deceased, but she could not be found.When Coroner Dr Clare Keane asked D’Arcy whether it was correct to say the dead man could not be identified, he replied: “That’s correct.”The inquest was told the dead man had substance abuse issues from the age of 13 and also suffered from schizophrenia.A narrative verdict was recorded, stating the man “known as Igor Dmitrov” died of traumatic blunt force injuries following the explosion of a device, which was next to his head at the time.Dr Joanne Fenton, a consultant psychiatrist, said while Dmitrov had a long history of mental illness, he did not appear to be suicidal during his interactions with medical staff, up to the period before his death.However, Det Garda Seamus O’Donnell, a Garda ballistics expert, said the pipe bomb made by Dmirov was placed on his bed where a pillow would be expected to be found. He said the back of the dead man’s head was next to the bomb, or he was lying on top of the bomb, when it exploded, adding that he felt the man’s positioning was “significant”.O’Donnell told the inquest the bolts used at the ends of the bomb had been bought online and that a fuse, similar to one found in fireworks, was used.While black powder or “old-fashioned gun powder” could be used for the explosives, cap gun caps were also found in the room, which was destroyed by the explosion and the fire it caused, the inquest heard.