Postmortem confirms body in slurry pit is that of missing man

A postmortem has confirmed a body found in a slurry pit at a farm in Co Cork is that of a father of two who disappeared just before Christmas.

Diarmuid Twomey (31) from Carrignavar died from drowning after he fell into the slurry pit on a farm in Whitechurch, the postmortem by Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster confirmed.

Mr Twomey’s body was discovered on Thursday when a farmer went to agitate the slurry tank at his farm at Rahaniskey, some 7km from Cork city.

Supt Con Cadogan of Gurranebraher Garda station, who led the investigation into Mr Twomey’s disappearance, described his death as “a tragic accident” and sympathised with his family.

He also paid tribute to the local communities in Whitechurch and Carrignavar who had assisted with a search operation over the past 39 days

And he also thanked the various agencies including the Irish Coastguard, the Civil Defence, Irish Red Cross as well as the Search and Rescue Dog Association who assisted in the search.

Mr Twomey went missing in the early hours of December 20th when he failed to return home to Carrignavar village where he and his partner Ciara Byrne live their two young children.

The couple had been attending an 18th birthday party for Mr Twomey’s nephew in Bishopstown but left it to visit a relative of Mr Twomey’s in Guranebraher.

They left the relative’s house on Templeacre Avenue in Gurranebraher around 2.30am and walked along Knockfree Avenue in Fair Hill where Ms Byrne caught a taxi home.

According to Ms Byrne, Mr Twomey had not been feeling well and said that he would follow on and make his own way home to Carrignavar some 12km north of the city.

Mr Twomey was seen by a taxi driver walking on the main Cork to Whitechurch road about 1km from Whitechurch village at around 4.20am on December 20th

A man fitting his description was then seen about 2.5kms from Whitechurch village, walking back towards Cork by another taxi driver at 5.20am and this was the last sighting of him.

Mr Twomey’s phone was found at 11am on December 20th about 100m from this last sighting of him on the main Whitechurch road and near where his body was found on Thursday.