Gardaí confirm remains are those of missing man

GARDAÍ confirmed that the remains of a man found in the Dublin mountains at the weekend are those of James Kenny McDonagh.

Garda sources said they were “100% certain” after dental records of Mr McDonagh matched those found in the skeletal remains.

Mr McDonagh was reported missing by his family after he vanished on October 27, 2010.

While gardaí officially treated the case as a missing person’s investigation, they had treated it as a murder probe.

Following last night’s confirmation, a formal murder investigation was set up. The detective team will now wait and see if forensic or DNA evidence of his killers can be gathered from the remains or from the murder scene.

A postmortem showed the 28 year old died as a result of serious trauma to his head, which may have been caused by a gunshot.

Mr McDonagh, a father-of-one, who lived in Islandbridge, Dublin, was last seen in nearby Bluebell driving a wine-coloured Mazda 626, registration number 02 D 68758.

The skeletal remains were discovered by hillwalkers at around noon last Sunday. They were in a shallow grave thought to have been disturbed when a tree toppled.

Gardaí described Mr McDonagh as a “wheeler dealer”, but had associated with criminals.