Bog body identified as IRA Disappeared victim Megraw

The body of one of the IRA’s Disappeared victims has been formally identified weeks after being dug out of a bog.

The remains of Brendan Megraw, from Twinbrook, west Belfast, were discovered by a drainage ditch in the middle of Oristown bog, Co Meath, on Oct 1, as investigators prepared for an extensive dig.

Frank Murray and Ken Bloomfield, commissioners of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR), confirmed the formal identification following DNA tests at a UK lab.

“The thoughts of everyone in the commission are with the Megraw family,” the investigators said.

The commission said Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell accepted the lab tests as evidence of identification and will shortly authorise the release of the remains to the family.

An inquest will be held, with Mr Megraw expected to be buried with his mother in Glenavy cemetery near Belfast.

Mr Megraw was abducted by the IRA on April 8, 1978, and murdered. He was a newlywed, aged 23, and awaiting the birth of his daughter. His kidnappers had drugged his wife Marie in their home as they awaited his return and, as they took him, they told her not to worry or contact police.

The Megraw family was only told by the IRA in 1999 that he was one of the Disappeared and his body had been dumped on bogland near the town of Kells.

The discovery was made by contractors working on behalf of the ICLVR.

It is thought a person living in the Midlands may hold vital clues to several families’ quest to find the bodies of loved ones.