Gardaí revise last sighting of missing woman
Anne Corcoran, from Kilbrittain, Co Cork, was last seen in the village of Garretstown, near Kinsale.
Inspector Brendan Fogarty confirmed that a person had spoken to the farm owner on the evening of Sunday, January 18, in Garretstown.
“We can say this was a positive sighting and we were told she seemed fine,” the inspector said.
Prior to that, the last confirmed sighting of Ms Corcoran was two days earlier at a shop in Bandon.
A claim by a member of the public that they had spotted Ms Corcoran was confirmed when gardaí viewed the shop’s CCTV tapes.
Yesterday, more than 300 volunteers joined the search for Ms Corcoran who was widowed 18 months ago, after the death of her husband, Jerry.
Since then she has lived alone, with her two dogs, at her isolated two-storey farmhouse, a few kilometres north of Kilbrittain.
Gardaí say it would be uncharacteristic for the widow to leave her home for any lengthy period of time without contacting them, or telling her friends.
She also adored the dogs and would have put them in kennels if she was going away.
On Saturday, the Garda Water Unit carried out a search of culverts near Oldchapel, on the outskirts of Bandon, where Ms Corcoran’s green Peugeot 206 was discovered abandoned around noon last Wednesday.
Searches over the weekend extended over a wide area, not just around Oldchapel but also adjacent to her farm, which she had leased out.
About 50 gardaí were also involved in yesterday’s search, along with members of the civil defence.
Ambulance personnel were also present.
The search was led by members of the Cork West Garda Division search team. Gardaí from other divisions were also drafted in.
Insp Forgarty thanked the volunteers who helped out with the search over the weekend and urged anybody with free time during the week to contact them.
“We appreciate that many will have to return to work. But we are appealing for anybody who can come out to do so,” Insp Fogarty said.
Volunteers are asked to turn up at Kilbrittain Community Centre at either 8.30am or 1.15pm where they will be taken out to different search areas by gardaí.
Gardaí have renewed their appeal for information about the movements of Ms Corcoran’s car.
They are especially interested to hear from anybody who saw the car parked outside Bandon Bridge national school between Tuesday, January 20 and Saturday, January 24.
Detectives are working on the theory that the Peugeot was then moved, probably by another person, over that weekend to Oldchapel, which is just about a mile from the school.
The car has been taken to Garda headquarters in Dublin where forensic experts will be hoping they can find clues which will shed light on the widow’s disappearance.
“We are seriously concerned at this stage for Anne Corcoran’s safety and we are appealing for any member of the public who has any information, no matter how trivial they think it is, to contact us,” Insp Forgarty said.
Anybody with information is asked to contact Bandon Garda Station at 023-52200.
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