‘WE HAD GIVEN UP ALL HOPE’
36 YEARS AFTER GOING MISSING, CONOR’S FAMILY GETS SOME CLOSURE AS BODY OF GREYSTONES MAN IDENTIFIED IN WALES
A GREYSTONES family has found some peace, 36 years since their son and brother Conor Whooley went missing.
Conor’s remains have been in a grave in Wales since October 1983, when his body was found along the shore. When his mother Eileen signed up to give DNA in an attempt to identify him, the process was set in motion and Conor was found.
His family made their way to Conor’s final resting place on Monday, where the grave at Menai Bridge Cemetery was blessed by priests.
‘We had given up hoping to get a knock on the door some day,’ said Conor’s brother Sean, who urges families to participate in the DNA operation.
CONOR WAS ALWAYS IN OUR THOUGHTS, PARTICULARLY AT TIMES LIKE CHRISTMAS OR HIS BIRTHDAY IN JANUARY. IT HAS BEEN HANGING OVER OUR FAMILY FOR A LONG TIME
THE brother of Greystones man Conor Whooley, whose body has been identified after he went missing 36 years ago, has said that the family had not believed they would ever discover what had happened to him.
Conor, then aged 24, was last seen in Dublin in August 1983. It has just been confirmed that his remains were found on the shore in Wales the October of that year and have been buried at Menai Bridge Cemetery in Anglesey for the past 36 years.
‘We certainly got a shock after such a long time to learn that he had been identified,’ said Conor’s brother, Sean Whooley.
Their mother Eileen, and some of her six remaining children travelled to Wales on Monday to pay a visit to Conor’s resting place. Sean, his twin Maire, Padraigh and Colm were able to attend on this first occasion.
‘We had given up hoping to get a knock on the door some day,’ said Sean. ‘ The original few years we thought maybe he would arrive for family events, but we had just given up on that really and the years moved on.’
His mother Eileen saw an item on RTÉ’s ‘Crimecall’ two years ago about Operation Runabay (Operation Orchid in the UK) in which the police were appealing for DNA, in the hope of identifying unidentified bodies in Ireland, the UK and further afield.
Mrs Whooley went to Greystones Garda Station, where Sargent Hackett brought them through the process, and explained that it may take some time. Last April, gardai asked Sean to provide a second sample, to verify the identity of the person they believed to be Conor.
A past pupil of St David’s and St Brendan’s, Conor was a person who enjoyed nature and walking, said Sean. He was living between Rathmines and Greystones at the time he went missing.
Times were different back then, with no mobile phones or social media to keep track of people, and it was thought for a significant period that he would turn up in his own time.
When the family received confirmation that Conor’s remains had been identified, by amazing coincidence, Sean’s daughter Ciara was in Wales. She was driving to Liverpool to see a cousin of hers. So she was able to send home pictures of ‘Plot 322’, and arrange for a plaque to be placed there, with the inscription ‘Conor Whooley, Ireland, 1959-1983. A loved soul is never lost’.
Some of the family travelled over there on Monday, where the police escorted them to the grave. They had the grave blessed by local priests.
‘It is a relief to find the remains were just across the sea,’ said Sean. ‘We didn’t know how he had met his ending or where he was.
‘ The village of Menai is very nice. Irish people pass that way a lot. We have passed it ourselves when driving too,’ said Sean.
He said that it is a great comfort to know that Conor’s remains were looked after and treated with respect.
‘He received the next available plot,’ said Sean. There was no marking on it, nor a cross, as the authorities did not know what faith the man might observe.
‘He was exhumed about eight years ago during a search for a Norwegian sailor,’ said Sean. ‘ They extracted DNA and it went into the system at that stage.’
Sean said that he would encourage anyone related to a person who has been missing for a long time to participate in the operations to gather DNA from family members.
‘ There are over 100 other unidentified bodies and a big drive to find out who they are,’ said Sean, who hopes other families can also find some peace.
‘Immediate families would tend to do it, but perhaps someone with an uncle or cousin, for example, who has never been found, could also consider giving DNA,’ he said.
Unfortunately, Conor’s father Jimmy passed away in 2015 without knowing what happened to his son.
‘Conor was always in our thoughts,’ said Sean, ‘particularly at times like Christmas or his birthday in January. It has been hanging over our family for a long time but gets blurrier as the years go on.’
Sean is today attending a memorial day for missing people, taking place at King’s Inns in Dublin.
‘ There will be families there of hundreds of missing people. I want to promote the operation and encourage people to participate.’
The family said in a statement that they would like to thank North Wales Police (in particular DC Don Kenyon), and the Irish Gardaí (especially Garda Richie Lynch) ‘for their tremendous efforts in helping to identify the remains of their son and brother, Conor’.