Excavation delay in search for body of Alzheimer’s patient

GARDAÍ have yet to begin excavating a site where the body of a missing Alzheimer’s patient may have been hidden for more than 30 years, two months after a coroner’s court decision to re-launch the search.

At a Dublin Coroner’s Court case in August, officers from Lucan Garda Station obtained an adjournment to the inquest of Alice Clifford after new evidence emerged in the case.

The court heard it was now believed the 57-year-old mother of seven, who has been missing since she disappeared from St Loman’s Hospital in west Dublin on November 28, 1979, may have fallen into a nearby trench.

This electric cable hole was filled in on the morning of Ms Clifford’s disappearance, with the coroner’s court agreeing that it must be excavated due to the possibility her remains can be found.

The new information was provided by an anonymous individual who contacted the coroner’s office in recent months.

However, due to difficulties in how the area has since been developed and finding the exact location of the trench, Gardaí have yet to begin excavation.

Ms Clifford was being treated for Alzheimer’s at the facility when she disappeared, with the alarm only being raised when she could not be found for her meal that evening.

While officers investigated the incident at the time, they were unable to uncover any leads.

Ms Clifford’s family have accepted their mother has passed away, but they are still seeking answers as to what happened to her.

During the August coroner’s court meeting it was agreed to adjourn the inquest until November.

Presiding coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty said this delay would allow officers time to fully retrieve and examine any new evidence that may be forthcoming from the excavation.

“We have to investigate further,” he explained.

Ms Clifford’s family made a renewed appeal for information on what happened in March 2008 in an attempt to bring closure to the situation.