Coroner apologises to family of missing man identified by DNA after 20 years

A coroner at an inquest has apologised to the family of a former fisherman last seen in Wexford 20 years ago. Earlier this year, DNA testing revealed the man’s body had been buried in an unmarked grave in Co Wexford.

Patrick “Packy” Gallagher (29) was seen leaving the old Tower Bar in Wexford town at 11.15pm on September 28th, 1999.

On October 21st, 1999, a body washed up on the beach at Courtown, Co Wexford. That body could not be positively identified at that time and the remains were interred at St Michael’s Cemetery, Gorey, Co Wexford.

In 2014, it was decided to hold an inquest for Mr Gallagher in the absence of a body. At that time, coroner Dr Seán Nixon returned a verdict of misadventure, saying it was likely Mr Gallagher had died by suicide having entered the water in Wexford Harbour.

Gardaí returned to the case this year, obtaining DNA samples from Mr Gallagher’s family before the body was exhumed on March 4th.

On Thursday, at a second inquest, Dr Nixon said the initial postmortem carried out by Dr Maurice Murphy on the body discovered on the beach at Courtown was said to be approximately 6ft 2in in height, which was not consistent with Mr Gallagher’s listed height of 5ft 9in.

It was also noted the remains were said to be those of a “well-built, muscular man”, while Mr Gallagher had been described as being of slight build. For these reasons, the possibility of the remains being those of Mr Gallagher was dismissed and the unidentified body was buried.

Dr Nixon noted DNA technology was not operating at the same level as today back in 1999 and “DNA sampling was not routine”. However, he did note the remains could have been identified as Mr Gallagher’s had dental records been checked.

“Retrospectively, had they looked at dental records, they may have been consistent with those of the body found in Courtown,” he said.

Concluding the inquest, Dr Nixon commiserated with the Gallagher family and their long wait for closure and apologised on on behalf of the Office of Coroner that this had been the case.

While Mr Gallagher’s mother Doreen Gallagher attended the court, she was too upset to come inside and her statement from the previous inquest was read aloud by Garda Colm Dunne. Her statement said Mr Gallagher had been living at 42 Pierce Court for around three months, having moved out of the family home at Libgate, Kilmore.

Ms Gallagher said her son had a history of mental health problems and had “struggled with depression all of his adult life”. It was noted he did not always see eye to eye with his now late father, with whom he had an argument in the days before he was last seen.

‘Bittersweet’

In a statement, Patrick’s sister Karen Gallagher described the moment as “bittersweet” for the family and thanked everyone who had worked on the case “to bring Patrick home”.

“We feel we’ve been left to suffer unnecessarily for the last 20 years,” she said.

“My father passed away not knowing what had happened to his son and feeling the guilt of their last argument.”

Ms Gallagher said the family had felt the case had been forgotten about and that they “hope mistakes like this are not made again”.

“For my mother, it was heartbreaking to think that her son was buried in the same county all that time,” she continued. “We feel like we deserve an apology from An Garda Síochána as a result. However, we now have closure and we can finally move on with our lives. Packy is no longer missing. He’s at home with his loved ones.”