Ireland’s database of unidentified remains is incomplete and not “exhaustive”, the Ministry of Justice has admitted.
The agency is now planning to upgrade its database to include images of distinctive features such as jewelry, clothing and tattoos found on unidentified bodies.
Coroners across the country are now being asked to provide footage that could help identify bodies and bring closure to families of long-term missing persons.
The announcement comes as information submitted by coroners on statistics for each colonial district is being compiled by the Department of Justice, with an expansion of the database published last May expected to take place in May this year. .
Details of the 44 bodies, including location, date of discovery, and distinctive features such as clothing and tattoos, were published in a database last year.
However, the spreadsheet does not contain any images.
Among the bodies listed in the spreadsheet is that of a woman who appears to be Asian, possibly Vietnamese. Her body was recovered from the sea off Doolin, County Clare, in October 2018. The database revealed that she had “open wounds and open fractures not considered post-mortem.”
However, the Irish Coroner found that more detailed details about the woman’s body were found in the UK’s Unidentified Remains Database, including the jewelry she was wearing, including bracelets and green stones. It also included a photo of a ring with a
Meanwhile, data about the discovery of a body believed to be that of an elderly woman along an old railway line in Middleton in January 2021 does not include images of clothing found with the body. It has been used many times in Garda calls for information. The photo was used to commemorate the third anniversary of its discovery just last month.
A Department of Justice spokesperson said: “The Department is currently compiling the 2023 return of unidentified remains from coroners and is updating the unidentified remains dataset with all additional data submitted by coroners through May of this year. We plan to update it.” Coroners are asked to provide, if available, visuals (of distinctive items such as jewellery, clothing, tattoos, etc.) found with or on unidentified bodies. There is. The visual details submitted are intended to be published as part of the Unidentified Archaeological Sites dataset. ”
The department confirmed plans to improve information following recent meetings with families of long-term missing persons and Justice Minister Helen McEntee. Deputy Minister for Justice James Brown and Deputy Minister for Agriculture Martin Hayden. Justice Department officials also attended the meeting.
Representing the families of the missing persons were Claire Clarke Keene, Michael and Bernie Jacob, Laura Crawford and Julie Crawford.
The body of the Crawfords’ brother John was discovered on the coast of Cumbria in northwest England in 2000, several months after he disappeared from his home in Tara.
His body was finally identified in 2011 after DNA taken from Mr Crawford’s belongings was circulated by gardaí to other police forces. He was buried in a British cemetery.
Claire Clarke Keene’s sister Priscilla went missing while horseback riding with her employer Linda Kavanagh in Wicklow in 1988. Mr Kavanagh’s body was recovered from the River Dargle two days later, but Mr Clarke has yet to be found.
The Jacobs’ 18-year-old daughter Deirdre disappeared from Newbridge, Co Kildare in July 1998. Her case was upgraded to a homicide investigation in August 2018.