Foul play not suspected in case of missing Joseph Whelan

Body found in Co Cavan lake believed to be missing man

Gardaí are awaiting the results of toxicology tests before determining the cause of death for a man whose remains were found in a Co Cavan lake on Saturday.

However, there were no obvious signs of serious injury to the body.

A Garda spokesman said while the investigation was continuing, nothing that had emerged to date suggested the dead man had met with foul play.

While the man's identity has not been officially confirmed, the body is believed to be that of 37-year-old Dubliner Joseph Whelan.

READ MORE

The father of three had been living in Ashbourne, Co Meath, and had been missing since leaving his home on Good Friday just over two weeks ago.

Mr Whelan’s wife Sonya is five months pregnant with the couple’s third child and is also believed to have two other children from a previous relationship.

She has spoken out in the media over the last week about her concerns for her missing husband.

The remains found in Co Cavan were pulled ashore in the net of a man fishing at Lough Ramor near Virginia.

The man who made the discovery alerted the emergency services. The body was then removed from the area and taken to Our Lady's Hospital in nearby Navan, Co Meath, for a post mortem examination.

Mr Whelan, who worked in the Merchant’s Quay drug treatment centre in Dublin’s south inner city, left his home at Brindley Park, Ashbourne, on Good Friday.

He was last picked up by CCTV cameras on foot in a housing estate in Virginia just after midnight into Easter Saturday morning.

He had left home at around 11pm on Good Friday to give a laptop computer back to his friend Cavan.

He later phoned his friend to say he had pulled into a housing estate because the tax and insurance on his car were out of date and he had seen a Garda car on the road.

His friend’s wife drove to the estate to collect him but was unable to find him when she arrived.

However, at around 1am Mr Whelan is believed to have made a phonecall to his friend saying he was in a field and being chased by a number of gardaí before the phone went dead.

His daughter’s phone showed two missed calls from him just before 1.30am.

Mr Whelan’s car, a VW Passat, was found in the Swiftbrook Glen estate on Easter Monday and items of clothing believed to be Mr Whelan’s were also found in the area.

The housing estate where the clothing and car were discovered is less than one mile from Lough Ramor where the body was found.

Gardaí had appealed for information several times in an effort to establish what had happened to Mr Whelan.

The river Blackwater, which flows past the spot where his car was found and flows into Lough Ramor had been searched by the Boyne Fisherman’s Rescue and Recovery Service.

Conor Lally

Conor Lally

Conor Lally is Security and Crime Editor of The Irish Times