Gsoc inquiry delays inquest of Waterford man who lay in morgue for almost a month

The family wants to know why Jamie's siblings were not notified of the remains in the morgue until after they made the welfare check request

The body of Jamie Weldon, originally from Butlerstown in Waterford, was found in his Iveagh Trust apartment on Upper Kevin Street in Dublin on August 19, 2023 — on what would have been his 57th birthday. 

The inquest of a Waterford man who lay in a Dublin morgue for almost a month has been postponed as an inquiry into the handling of his case is being conducted by the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc).

The body of Jamie Weldon, originally from Butlerstown in Waterford, was found in his Iveagh Trust apartment on Upper Kevin Street in Dublin on August 19, 2023 — on what would have been his 57th birthday. 

His inquest was due to take place at Dublin City Coroners Court last month and was rescheduled to take place on Thursday. However, his family have now been notified that the inquest will be further rescheduled.

It comes as the Gsoc informed the family that a complaint made by his family over a year ago about the Garda handling of the case is still being dealt with by the commission.

Mr Weldon’s six siblings only discovered, after making a welfare check request on August 25, 2023, that remains believed to be that of their brother were in the Dublin City Morgue — almost a week after his body was discovered.

Jamie Weldon's brothers and sisters (left to right) Monica, Frances, Fiona, Sean and Billy.  Their complaint with Gsoc centres on the delay between the discovery of Jamie’s body and informing his family that remains of a person believed to be Jamie were in Dublin city morgue. Photo: Patrick Browne

His family were made aware of this just 25 minutes after requesting the welfare check, shortly after midnight on August 26. The family now wants answers on why Jamie's siblings were not notified of the remains in the morgue until after they made the welfare check request.

Because he had been dead for some time before his body was discovered on August 19, the family was told the body was unviewable and a DNA match was necessary to prove his identity. One of his brothers provided a DNA sample at Kevin Street Garda Station on August 29.

His remains were finally released to his family on September 15, 27 days after his body was discovered.

The family’s complaint with Gsoc centres on the delay between the discovery of Jamie’s body and informing his family that remains of a person believed to be Jamie were in Dublin city morgue.

A Garda spokesman has previously outlined to the Irish Examiner that extensive inquiries were conducted by gardaí in Kevin Street to identify a next-of-kin subsequent to the discovery of the body, “including checking against missing person records, which eventually resulted in the potential identification of the deceased”.

That identification subsequently needed to be confirmed by DNA analysis, according to gardaí.

The family is also concerned about the disappearance of Jamie's cards as they cannot be located in his apartment and were not on him when his body was removed to the morgue for an autopsy. He used his social welfare card on July 28, 2024 — also the date of his last interaction with anyone online.