Gardaí happy to be dealt a bad hand

Jimmy Woulfe, Mid-West Correspondent

Gardaí isolated part of a new housing estate after the discovery of what looked like a human hand stuck in a sewerage drain at Dromroe, Rhebogue.

A full forensic team spent a number of hours working at the scene, along with firemen trying to get at the strange object.

About 12 inches in length, the object was trapped nine feet under a road in the estate.

The alert was raised by workers from Premier Drain Cleaners.

The workers were checking drains and sewers using a remote control CCTV camera.

John Fanning, who works with the company, said: “We picked up images of what appeared to be a human hand.

“It seemed to have been wedged in a four-inch pipe which protrudes into a nine-inch pipe. It was 35 metres in along the pipe and about nine feet down.”

Detectives from Henry Street were alarmed by the discovery and studied the images captured on the CCTV system.

Det Insp Jim Browne said: “We fully investigated it when it was brought to our attention.”

He added: “But we managed to flush it out and are satisfied it was a bit of plastic.”

Recently a full alert was sparked with the discovery of what appeared to be a severed finger outside an apartment store in the city centre.

An investigation was launched but after being taken to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, experts were satisfied that it was made of rubber.