BODY TO BE EXHUMED IN SEARCH FOR MISSING PAULINE
AN EXHUMATION is due to take place today (Tuesday) in North Wales after DNA strongly indicated the human remains could be those of 49-year old Pauline Finlay, pictured above, who went missing on March 25, 1994, near Cahore. The family was told last year the human remains were likely those of Mrs Finlay after DNA tests were conducted.
Welsh coroner Dewi-Pritchard Jones issued the exhumation order last week.
THE FAMILY of Pauline Finlay (49) who went missing 24 years ago near Cahore will finally know if unidentified human remains buried in North Wales are hers after an exhumation which is due to take place today (Tuesday).
The family was told last year DNA strongly indicated the human remains were those of Mrs Finlay, but sadly her husband Joe will not see her remains being brought home to be buried as he passed away in August.
Welsh coroner Dewi-Pritchard Jones issued the exhumation order last week after waiting more than a year for The High Court in London to overturn the verdict of the original inquest into the unidentified body of a woman who washed up along the Welsh coastline on October 31, 1994.
Dublin natives Pauline and Joe had a mobile home at Old Bawn near Cahore and were very well-known in the locality. Pauline disappeared on March 25 in 1994 while walking her two dogs on Old Bawn beach.
Extensive searches were carried for days and weeks out on the water and along the coastline after she went missing but no trace was ever found.
However it is now believed that the unidentified remains of a woman who washed up on Cable Bay beach in Wales eight months later may have been those of Mrs Finlay.
Last year, police in North Wales launched a fresh effort to try and give names to 17 bodies that they have on their records and contacted An Garda Síochana for details on unsolved missing persons cases.
It emerged in the joint investigation that the Cable Bay remains were likely to be those of Mrs Finlay.
Mr Pritchard-Jones said his predecessor and police at the time failed to identify the remains and they were buried, being cared for by local people.
If the DNA results confirm that the body is that of Mrs Finlay, the remains will be repatriated to Ireland. Mr Pritchard-Jones said an ‘Irish coroner will deal with the matter and a death certificate will be issued’ to the family.
Meanwhile, a grave of an unnamed man lies in St Michael’s Cemetery in Gorey after his body washed up on Courtown beach on October 23, 1999, and still remains unidentified. The mystery also continues with the body of woman who washed up at Ballinamona Beach on December 12, 1995, and her remains lie in Crosstown Cemetery in Wexford.