Family of missing pensioner visit site where body found

THE family of a pensioner who has been missing for more than two years visited the site yesterday where human remains were found close to where she was last seen.

The discovery in dense undergrowth on the side of Bray Head, Co Wicklow, was made on Monday by a local resident. Gardaí suspect the find may be linked to missing Alzheimer’s sufferer Maura Reynolds, 78, who vanished from a care centre on Christmas Night, 2005.

Ms Reynolds’s son, George, and daughter-in-law, Priscilla, arrived at the scene at a remote ravine on the side of the headland overlooking the Irish Sea, shortly before the body was removed yesterday morning.

Initial examinations suggest the remains are those of an elderly person, but investigating officers stressed a formal identification had yet to take place.

“The remains have been removed to the Dublin City Coroner’s office where further tests will be undertaken to establish the identity of the person from dental records, DNA, forensic anthropology, and from remnants of clothing,” said Superintendent Michael Lernihan of Bray Garda Station,

Supt Lernihan said the investigation was at too early a stage to rule out foul play.

Ms Reynolds’s relatives examined the immediate area, but declined to make any comment to waiting media. Officers from the Garda Technical Bureau along with deputy state pathologist Dr Michael Curtis and a forensic anthropologist carried out an examination at the scene earlier yesterday.

Ms Reynolds, who was also suffering from cancer, went missing from the care home on Putland Road — less than half a mile from Bray Head — after returning from a family gathering on Christmas Day.

Massive searches around the town’s seafront were scaled down almost a month after the disappearance and the elderly pensioner was presumed dead.

Supt Lernihan today said the scene of the find had been searched at the time of the disappearance, but highlighted its remote and inaccessible location.

Owners of the care home Paul and Anne Costello were fined €2,000 at Bray District Court in January this year after pleading guilty to failing to ensure residents’ welfare and wellbeing.