A well-known Derry academic, Ms Mary Reid, died as a result of drowning, an inquest in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, heard yesterday.
However, the solicitor representing relatives of Ms Reid and her partner, Mr Terence Robson, issued a statement afterwards expressing dissatisfaction with the nature of the garda inquiry into her death.
Ms Reid, noted for her work as a poet, lecturer and writer, and who was also a former member of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, was aged 49. Her body was discovered on the shoreline at the Isle of Doagh, Co Donegal, on January 29th, 2003.
Solicitor Mr Robert Eagar said that the family still had "some doubts about the circumstances of her death" and the fact that none of her missing clothes were found. She was naked from the waist up when she was found.
He added that the family was "particularly unhappy about the lack of a comprehensive forensic examination of Ms Reid's car". They were also disappointed that the State Pathologist was not called to do a forensic post-mortem.
The inquest heard that Ms Reid, of Glenowen Park in Derry - who was described as a very philosophical and religious person - had been very worried by the impending war in Iraq at the time. Her partner, Mr Robson, said that "her mind was taken up with the end of the world, and who was going to save it". She had missed a couple of days' work at the time.
Mr Tommy McCourt, a work colleague at the Rosemount Resource Centre in Derry, said that she was a very political person and was very vociferous and annoyed about the US going into Iraq. One night shortly before her death, he recalled, she had arrived at his home barefoot. They spoke but he said the conversation did not make much sense and she walked home again.
An initial garda examination of her car at the scene revealed nothing. No notes or papers were in the car. However, the boot of the car was not examined.