Couple plead guilty over missing care patient

A COUPLE who own a Co Wicklow nursing home from which an elderly woman went missing almost two years ago have pleaded guilty to not maintaining proper care of their patients arising out of the incident.

Bray District Court heard yesterday that Maura Reynolds, 78, disappeared from Tara Care Centre on Putland Road, Bray, Co Wicklow, on Christmas night in 2005. Despite an extensive search lasting several days she remains missing and is presumed dead.

The owners of the nursing home, Paul and Anne Costello, admitted a breach of the Nursing Homes (Care and Welfare) Regulations 1993, which obliges them to provide “suitable and sufficient care to maintain a patient’s welfare and wellbeing”.