‘Last nine days have been very difficult for all of us’

IT was the news the people of a tight-knit community had been expecting, but when it came it didn’t make the pain any easier to bear.

As volunteers trudged back to the community hall in Kilbrittain, Co Cork, yesterday afternoon they knew gardaí had found a body and it was probably that of local widow Anne Corcoran.

Hundreds packed the hall and were fed with hot soup, stew and sandwiches until senior gardaí arrived to officially tell them the news.

Acting on information a search team had gone to the 50-acre Garrettstown Wood near Ballinspittle at 8am. There they found a mound of earth and suspected a body was underneath.

At 3.10pm official confirmation came that it was the body of a woman.

A short time later Chief Superintendent Michael Finn stood on the hall stage and broke the news amid hushed silence.

He said gardaí were formally calling off the search for the 60-year-old widow, who disappeared on January 19 last.

She was officially reported missing five days later.

“The last nine days have been a very difficult time for all of us. It has been a very sad occasion,” the senior garda said.

However, he said people were heartened by the tremendous spirit of a community that turned out in force to find the widow.

Chief Supt Finn thanked all the volunteers who took part in the searches during terrible weather conditions and added a special thanks to the team of women who provided food around the clock for the multitude.

He also thanked his own gardaí, many of whom had grabbed just a few hours sleep between the searches.

Kilbrittain parish priest, Fr Tom O’Riordan, broke down as he was about to address the crowd.

When he’d regained composure he thanked gardaí for their efforts and said he was proud of the way the local community had responded. “I’m not a bit surprised by the way you responded,” he told them.

Fr O’Riordan said the community had to give thanks for the news the body had been found, even though it represented their greatest fears coming true. He conducted a decade of the rosary before people started drifting back to their homes.

Kevin Finn, whose wife was related to Ms Corcoran, had been out searching earlier in the day. “Anne was a very smart, lovely lady-like person. I feel very sorry for her family, but it is great that she has been found.”

His friend, Michael O’Donovan, said it was shocking that “she had come to such a terrible end”.

Cormac Carroll, who had provided the coaches free of charge to ferry volunteers to various search points, looked exhausted.

“We expected this, but it doesn’t lessen the pain. People are numbed by the news, but at least there is some closure for the family,” Mr Carroll said.

Members of the Garda Technical Bureau examined the scene at the wood before the body was removed to Cork University Hospital, where a postmortem was carried out last night by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster.