Experts to help identify man's body

ONE OF Europe’s top forensic experts is being asked to help in efforts to identify the remains of a man which were recovered …

ONE OF Europe’s top forensic experts is being asked to help in efforts to identify the remains of a man which were recovered off the Cliffs of Moher more than a year ago.

Clare Coroner, Isobel O’Dea confirmed yesterday that her office has sent scans of the man’s remains to Prof of Craniofacial Identification, Caroline Wilkinson, at the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification at the University of Dundee in Scotland.

The award-winning centre is home to some of Europe’s most experienced experts in the fields of human identification, cranio-facial reconstruction and forensic anthropology.

The centre has helped in high profile missing person cases and Prof Wilkinson’s own work is in the field of facial anthropology or the science of human faces.

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From the scans sent through by Ms O’Dea, Prof Wilkinson will attempt to reconstruct the man’s face.

This will then allow Interpol to circulate the image of the reconstructed face to police agencies across Europe as gardaí believe the man is not Irish.

Insp Tom Kennedy said that “all checks on the remains by gardaí have failed to get a match”.

Insp Kennedy said that the body was in the water for around 10 days and it was not possible to get fingerprints from the remains.

Insp Kennedy said: “We do know it is a white adult male, but we don’t know his age. No one reported this man missing.”

The injuries suggest that he fell off the Cliffs of Moher.

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan is a contributor to The Irish Times