Search for missing pensioner continues

Coastguard teams, gardaí and civil defence personnel were today searching the coastline near Bray, Wicklow in a bid to find a frail pensioner who has been missing for the last six days.

Maura Reynolds disappeared from a nursing home in the town on Christmas night and has not been seen since.

Gardaí believe the 78-year-old returned to the Tara Nursing Home after spending the day with family and dressed herself in a purple suit before leaving the home.

Search teams spent the last few days checking lands and properties in Bray, but there has been no sign of the pensioner. The operation, involving the coastguard and the garda water unit, is now focused on the sea along the Wicklow coast.

Mrs Reynolds, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and severe dementia, was last seen when she returned to the nursing home on Christmas night.

The pensioner, who is 5’4” with white hair and walks with a slight stoop, also suffers from cancer of the spine and is unable to walk long distances.

Gardaí appealed for anyone who was walking along Bray Head on Christmas night to contact them.

Officers have received hundreds of calls from the public reporting sightings of Mrs Reynolds, but nothing conclusive has emerged.

They have also asked people returning to Bray after the Christmas break to check outhouses and homes for the missing woman.