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.