How can someone die alone and lie undiscovered for years?

Tim O’Sullivan’s remains were left undiscovered in his house in Mallow for up to two decades. ANN MURPHY looks at his and similar lonely deaths, and asks how this can happen in our midst

In one such instance in recent years, the remains of Nick and Hilary Smith were found last year in their house in Cloneen, Co Tipperary — up to 18 months after they had died. Picture: Neil Mchael

As the family of Tim O’Sullivan prepare to lay him to rest after decades of wondering where he was, the community of Mallow, Co Cork, is struggling to understand how he lay dead in their midst without anybody finding him for more than 20 years.

Born to Kerry immigrants in the UK in 1939, the reclusive man remains a mystery to his neighbours on Beecher St in Mallow this weekend, a week after his skeletal remains were found in a bed in his boarded-up terraced single-storey home.

Many people in the area are questioning how the house was boarded up several years ago without adequate checks being carried out which could have resulted in his remains being recovered much earlier.

One man, who did not want to be named, said: “There are questions to be asked of everyone. 

"This is the problem where we have people who are recluses, or living on their own.

Tim O’Sullivan’s family believed he had moved back to the UK but last week his skeletal remains were found in his house in Mallow, Co Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

“Should there be a garda check or a welfare check on someone? Was he registered to any GP in Mallow? Was he involved with the mental health services?

“There is a wider social response that should be considered now. If we are doing derelict sites or boarding up a house, should we not first make sure nobody is in there? Should we follow up on how long is the electricity turned off — or is it turned off?”

There are also questions about who boarded up the property.

In a statement, Cork County Council said it was not aware of who had boarded up the house, or when. The property is currently being taken over by the local authority through a compulsory purchase order but it was privately owned.

There is also speculation on whether electricity to the property was cut off after Mr O’Sullivan’s death, which is believed to have occurred in 2001, judging from the expiry dates on food.

This could not be confirmed by Electric Ireland, who said they would not be commenting on the case.

Garda welfare checks have been spoken about in the wake of the discovery of Mr O’Sullivan’s remains, as people ask how such incidents could be prevented in future.

A candle lamp and floral tributes outside the late Tim O’Sullivan’s home on Beecher St in Mallow after his remains were discovered. It is thought he may have died in 2001. Picture: Dan Linehan

According to An Garda Síochána, the organisation “has a duty of positive action” in situations where concerns are reported to them about anybody.

In a statement, the organisation said: “Where An Garda Síochána receives concerns for the safety or welfare of any individual, either directly from a reporting party or through another police force, An Garda Síochána will assess the information and undertake enquiries to determine the safety of, or other information about the person subject of concerns.

“Each case is individual and the nature of enquiries are determined on a case-by-case basis and can range from simple preliminary enquiries up to the commencement of a formal missing person investigation.

“Where the person subject to concern is an adult, the consent of that person is required before any details relating to that individual, including their whereabouts, can be provided back to the reporting party.”

The family of Tim O’Sullivan are adamant that they made efforts to trace him and term the discovery of his remains in the Mallow property as their “worst-case scenario”.

In a statement on Thursday, the family said Ireland in the early years of this century “was not similar to the Ireland of today where people are in constant contact via messaging apps and mobile phones”.

They said Tim had spoken about returning again to the UK but that “nothing was set in stone”.

Tipperary councillor Mark Fitzgerald expressed his sorrow on learning of Tim O'Sullivan's death and described the shock experienced by people in Cloneen last year when the remains of Nick and Hilary Smith were discovered in their house. Picture: Neil Mchael

When communication ceased, they say they visited his house in Mallow several times but had no way of accessing it without breaking and entering.

The family brought concerns to the “authorities who said that the matter was looked into thoroughly, that there was nobody living in the house and that from investigations made locally, it was certain he had returned to the UK and that was where the family should continue to search”.

Mr O’Sullivan’s family referred to media reports that Tim struggled with his mental health. Their statement said:

Really it was more a case of a man with a broken heart who wished for privacy and time to be alone to come to terms with his separation as was his right.

A spokeswoman for the Health Service Executive said she could not confirm if Mr O’Sullivan was under the care of mental health services, stressing that such information was confidential.

She said that the mental health services offer individualised, patient-centred care to service users, while support is also provided to a large number of people in the community, as well as a smaller number in residential settings.

She added: “There are many reasons why someone may opt out of community mental health services, or be discharged from a service.

“These reasons will be individual to each person, and it’s not possible at this time for us to give further detail.”

The family and the local community will be hoping for answers when the case goes to a coroner’s inquest as to how nobody discovered his remains in a house on a busy street in Mallow for more than 20 years.

Tim O’Sullivan’s case is not unusual, although the length of time that he lay undiscovered certainly is.

Nick and Hilary Smith

Last summer, the bodies of elderly couple Nick and Hilary Smith were discovered in a house in Cloneen in Tipperary.

In 2022, Nick and Hilary Smith were found dead in their house in Cloneen, Co Tipperary. Picture: Neil Mchael

Similarly to Tim O’Sullivan, the couple’s neighbours assumed they had gone to the UK.

However, Nick and Hilary Smith's bodies were found in the house after one neighbour became suspicious. They are believed to have been dead in the property, in different areas of the house, for up to 18 months.

No date has yet been assigned for an inquest into the couple’s deaths.

Locally, the case is never far from the minds of people in Cloneen, who still cannot understand how the couple lay dead in their community without anyone knowing.

However, locals say the couple led very private lives and had notified one woman by letter that they were going away for a while.

Local Fine Gael councillor Mark Fitzgerald said hearing about the Mallow tragedy is a reminder of the mystery around the discovery of the Smith couple. He said: 

It is very sad to hear about the events that have transpired in Cork and it is obviously a very hard time for the community and for the family. 

“Being involved in a similar situation last year in my own area, we are still coming to terms with it and it will probably take a long time for people in the area to come to terms with it.

Nick and Hilary Smith are believed to have been dead for up to 18 months before their remains were found in their house in Cloneen, Co Tipp. Picture: Neil Mchael.

“The one thing I would stress is that it is early days yet and people don’t know the full story. 

"The one thing I saw last year here, especially on social media, was people jumping to conclusions about people in the community of my area but we didn’t know the full story at the time. 

"Hopefully, the full story will be revealed in due course and it might paint a better picture of what happened.”

George Harrington

In October 2019, Cork City coroner  Philip Comyn raised concerns after two similar cases came before his court within a week relating to elderly people who had been found dead in their homes, several months after their deaths had occurred.

In 2019, the Cork City coroner raised concerns about a number of cases of people dying alone and their remains laying undiscovered, including the late George Harrington of  The Glen in Cork City.  

Mr Comyn was speaking at the end of the inquest into the death of 79-year-old George Harrington, who lived in a flat over the Glen Resource Centre in Cork city. Prior to his death in November 2018, he collected his pension weekly from a post office and also regularly picked up prescription medication from a pharmacy. 

He was found dead in his flat in May 2019.

At the time of the inquest, Mr Comyn said Mr Harrington appeared to have become “enveloped in a cloak of anonymity, which I find disconcerting”.

Paddy O’Brien, a well-known campaigner for older people in Cork, said efforts need to be taken to ensure that “bells ring” when social welfare payments have not been collected for several weeks. 

At present, a letter is sent to social welfare recipients if they have not collected their payments for longer than 60 days.

Mr O’Brien said the Government needs to bring in measures which would allow the Department of Social Protection to notify gardaí in such cases. He added: 

Time is of the essence — we are talking here about saving lives.

A spokesman for the Department of Social Protection said that in some cases such as pensions, a payment at the post office may be collected up to 90 days after the date of issue as it may not always be possible for a person to collect their pension immediately.

He said: “Where post office payments expire due to non-collection after the permissible period, the payments are returned to the department. In such cases, the department will seek to contact the customer to clarify why this has happened and where a response is provided, payment will normally resume and the arrears will be paid.

'Do not think, just act. That knock on the door could save a life.' So says advocate for older people, Paddy O'Brien, about what neighbours can do if someone in their locality has not been seen around. Picture: Larry Cummins

“The department is notified when a death is registered in the General Registrar’s office, which automatically suspends the payments to the deceased customer. Death notifications are also received from other channels including family members, the HSE and overseas institutions.”

Mr O’Brien also believes that the changing face of communities in built-up areas is leaving people who live alone more and more isolated.

He said there are 44,000 people over the age of 65 who are currently living alone in Cork city and county and “many of them are housebound”. He urged people not to be afraid to go to the home of an elderly person who has not been seen in their community for some time.

He added: “Do not think, just act. That knock on the door could save a life.”