They never knew

THE family of the woman whose emaciated body was removed from her daughter’s house a week before her death yesterday said they had been unaware of her condition.

Speaking as gardaí launched a criminal investigation into the death of Evelyn Joel, 59, Maureen and Tom Connolly said they were “totally unaware” of the circumstances in which their sister, Ms Joel, née Connolly, had suffered because they were not given access to the house at 37 Cluain Dara, Gimont, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, where Ms Joel lived.

As a consequence, “they were not aware of the conditions she had lived in”, said Wexford-based journalist Jimmy Gahan who spoke on behalf of the family. They had not seen her for several months “through no fault of their own”, Mr Gahan said. They had made efforts to speak to, see and visit her, but “all requests for information or to visit their sister were declined”.