Family await exhumation result
THE FAMILY of Pauline Finlay (49) who went missing 24 years ago near Cahore in north Wexford 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.
Sadly, Pauline’s 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 out for days and weeks in 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.
If the DNA results confirm that the body is that of Mrs Finlay, the remains will be repatriated to Ireland. Mr PritchardJones said an ‘Irish coroner will deal with the matter and a death certificate will be issued’ to the family.