Man buried in pauper's grave in Wexford claimed to be heir to South African fortune
The grave of Mark Dean Heardon at St Ibar's Cemetery, Crosstown, Wexford. Photo: Patrick Browne
A man who claimed to be an heir to a South African fortune is among those buried in a pauper’s grave in Wexford which also holds the remains of an unidentified woman found almost 30 years ago.
Bristol native Mark Dean Heardon drowned off Hook Head on March 5, 1995, while sailing on his own from Waterford to Dublin. He is buried in a pauper’s grave in St Ibar’s cemetery in Crosstown, which also holds the remains of a woman known as Ballinamona Woman, whose remains were discovered near Kilmuckridge, Co Wexford, in December 1995.
The revealed on Tuesday that six unidentified remains are lying in two graves at the Crosstown cemetery, along with three unclaimed remains.
The gravestone on the plot for Mark Heardon and Ballinamona Woman bears the incorrect name — Mark (Josh) Hearson. When alive, he also had different names, posing as Pieter Whyte, Joshua Duffy or Pieter Van Kuylenberg.
According to press reports of the time, only funeral home staff, cemetery workers, a garda and a health board official were present at his burial, as well as a local priest. In the weeks before his death, he claimed to be the sole heir to a £100 million South African fortune.
AIB had gone to the High Court on February 20 in a bid to prevent him removing a metal box out of the jurisdiction as it contained the only assets of the defendant known to the bank. The barrister representing the bank branded the man known as Pieter Whyte as a “confidence trickster”.
AIB claimed to have given the man a £25,000 overdraft, and a total of £54,300 was now due. It was also claimed that the same man owed £130,000 to other financial institutions.
The bank was granted a temporary injunction restraining him from moving it from a safety deposit box in the bank’s branch in Lisduggan in Waterford. The box was said to contain gold sovereigns and gems, the High Court was told.
However, when the case came back before the High Court for hearing a week before his death, AIB opted against seeking an interlocutory injunction. Ironically, the case was struck out in the High Court on March 5 — the day he was last seen.
His body was recovered from the sea off Hook Head on March 12, having sailed out of Waterford port, bound for Dublin, on March 5.
His boat was last spotted close to Hook Head shortly before 5pm that afternoon. Although a sea and air search for him was mounted, initially there was a feeling that Heardon may have staged his disappearance in a bid to flee abroad and leave his debts behind.
However, in the days after he left Waterford, personal items were found in the sand of Churchtown Bay. These included a suitcase, a lifebelt, a medicine container, a wrist watch, a shaving kit and a boat hatchcover. The name Pieter Whyte was on the tablet bottle.
In the days before his death, the 25-year-old had admitted to gardaí and to a journalist that his name was not Pieter Whyte and that his real name was Mark Dean Heardon.
Meanwhile, DNA profiling has been carried out on the remains of the woman, whose body was exhumed in 2007 for further investigation, but has not been successful in identifying her.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
