THE body of a man found dead on a Dublin bus had been robbed of a gold chain and mobile phone.

Dubliner Jason Grendon was subjected to the ultimate insult in death when his lifeless body was looted for valuables.

The bus had stopped and authorities had been alerted to the tragedy when two thieves boarded the vehicle and stole the items.

Jason's mother Kathleen, who has been left heartbroken by his death, is outraged at the heinous crime.

"Robbing from the dead is horrible," she told the Herald.

"I want those who did this to my son to be prosecuted. It was dreadful," Kathleen added.

Jason, a 38-year-old father-of-two, was discovered dead in a back seat of a 78A bus travelling from Aston Quay to Liffey Valley Shopping Centre.

The bus was stopped on Coldcut Road at the Neilstown roundabout at about 1pm on May 10 last when someone told the driver there was “a guy upstairs dead”.

The driver said he saw a man slumped over the back seat with about 10 people standing around him. The body of the former trainee drugs counsellor was warm but he was not breathing and the driver called an ambulance.

The horrific details of the incident emerged at Dublin County Coroner’s Court this week.

One passenger, John Hammond of Raheny, recalled a commotion after the bus passed Cherry Orchard when other passengers began to say a man was dead on the bus.

Bus inspector David Byrne said that he was called to the scene and saw the man dead in the seat. He noticed Mr Grendon was wearing a heavy gold chain around his neck.

Tracksuits

He took the names of all passengers. Later, he noticed two males in tracksuits who had been outside the bus but who had later re-boarded the bus.

Mr Byrne asked the two males why they got back onto the bus and they told him they had wanted to see the body of the dead man. He then noticed that the dead man’s gold chain was missing and he suspected the two males of stealing it. But they left the scene when gardai arrived.

After the inquest, Mr Grendon’s mother, Kathleen Grendon, revealed that the missing chain had later been returned to her following a text from one of the robbers.

She said a young man who sent her a text about her son being found dead on the bus was the person who stole his gold chain, worth about €3,000.

A relative of this man later returned the chain to her.

Kathleen said the chain was twisted and broken and had obviously been torn off her son’s neck. She is keeping the chain to give to Jason’s five-year-old son when he is older.

Mr Grendon’s mobile phone was stolen by the man’s accomplice and this phone has not been returned to her.

Mrs Grendon explained that her son was a former heroin addict who had managed to stop taking heroin and had been achieving success in training to be a drug addiction counsellor.

There were warrants outstanding for “minor matters” but he chose to move to Belfast to avoid being sent to Mountjoy where heroin was too freely available, she said.

She said he had remained free of drugs while living in Belfast and was working as a painter and attending counselling and a gym.

Shocked

She believed he was free of heroin for 14 months before he died and she was shocked to hear he had taken heroin.

“He had a big heart. No matter what he ever did, there is no way he would ever rob the dead,” she said.

A post mortem examination revealed the Dubliner had consumed a large amount of alcohol. He had also taken a quantity of heroin. But it was the combination of both alcohol and heroin that depressed his central nervous system and caused his death. A verdict of death by misadventure was recorded.

- Alan O'Keeffe