Body to be exhumed in DNA identification bid
ABODY found on a Welsh beach 23 years ago will be exhumed in a bid to establish whether or not it belonged to a woman who disappeared while walking her dogs in Ireland.
It was reported last year that the remains, which were found at Cable Bay, Aberffraw, in Anglesey on October 31, 1994, and buried in a local graveyard, could belong to Pauline Finlay.
Mrs Finlay disappeared while walking her dogs on a beach near Kilmuckridge in County Wexford in March of the same year.
A breakthrough was made last year thanks to North Wales Police detectives working on Operation Orchid, which uses the latest DNA technology to identify human remains discovered during the last 50 years.
Dewi Pritchard Jones, coroner for north-west Wales, said at an inquest hearing in Caernarfon yesterday: “Despite the body being discovered on October 31, 1994, efforts to identify the remains were unsucessful.
“As a result, an open verdict was recorded.
“Since then, thanks to a joint effort involving police on both sides of the Irish Sea, DNA samples now suggest that the body was more than likely that of Mrs Finlay.
“I was successful in my application to the High Court that the initial open verdict should be appealed and the case revisited.
“If what remains of the DNA evidence is matched with Mrs Finlay, the matter will be passed on to the Irish authorities.”
Married Dubliner Mrs Finlay was 49 when she was thought to have ended up in the Irish Sea off Wexford more than two decades ago.
Despite extensive searches her confirmed remains were never found. When she disappeared Pauline’s dogs were found, agitated and barking, on a beach near Kilmuckridge less than a kilometre from her home.
Following the DNA breakthrough last year a spokeswoman for North Wales Police said: “Despite extensive inquiries made at the time the remains were not identified and the death, which was not treated as suspicious, resulted in an open verdict. The remains were interred in a local cemetery.
“Under Operation Orchid, North Wales Police detectives are now using the latest DNA technology to help identify human remains discovered in the region over the last 48 years.
“The operation recently had a significant breakthrough and the force has submitted a file to HM Coroner for north-west Wales Mr Dewi Pritchard-Jones suggesting the remains are those of an Irish woman who went missing from County Wexford in the mid-90s.
“Police have liaised with the woman’s family, who have asked for their privacy to be respected at this time.”