A journalist in Ireland has been butchered and his lung eaten after a row over a game of chess.

“Tom O’Gorman, 39, was allegedly stabbed by his lodger Saverio Bellante, 34, but police said the details of the killing and arrest were too horrific to release,” reports Daily Star.

“Yesterday a police source said officers who discovered the bloodbath on Sunday morning were traumatised by the scene,” the report said.

It quoted the source as saying: “Mr O’Gorman suffered an appalling death before his lung was removed and eaten by his killer. There was blood everywhere in the room. This was a brutal act of slaughter and appalling act of evil.

“The young officers who made the discovery are understandably very distressed.

“When they entered the house it was like walking through the gates of Hell.

“But they remained composed, secured the scene and arrested a suspect.”

Another report in The Express identified the victim, Mr. O’Gorman, as a former journalist with The Voice Today, a Roman Catholic newspaper. It said that his killer had been apprehended and would appear in court today.

“Police were called to the scene of the killing at a house in a suburb of north Dublin at around 1.50am yesterday,” the report said.

It described O’Gorman as a researcher who had worked as a journalist and who owned the property in Beech Park Avenue, Castleknock, where he was found with multiple stab injuries.

“Police believe a violent row erupted over a chess move and spiralled out of control. Another man – aged 34 and understood to be from Palermo in Italy – was arrested at the scene. He has been charged over the death and is due at Blanchardstown District Court in Dublin this morning,” according to The Express.

Throwing more light on the victim, the report said: “A graduate of University College Dublin, he was more recently a researcher with Dublin-based Catholic lobby group the Iona Institute.

“Mr O’Gorman – who had a brother and a sister – was living at the family home after his mother died in 2012.

“He is believed to have taken in a lodger in recent months to help supplement his income.

“It is not thought there were any drink or drugs involved in the incident.

“The killing is the fifth in Ireland over the past week.”

•Photo, courtesy Daily Star, shows the victim, Tom O’Gorman, and his heartless killer, Saverio Bellante.