29 October 2023 , 09:48
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A man lay dead in a boarded-up house in Ireland for over 20 years with his body ending up mummified, as his brother now speaks out of his family’s heartache.
The skeletal remains of Tim O’Sullivan were discovered in his bed at a property in Cork, over two decades after he was last seen alive in January 2022. O’ Sullivan’s partially mummified remains were found under a duvet by council staff who entered the property following reports of a vermin infestation.
At his inquest earlier this week coroner Dr Michael Kennedy said he had “in all probability” died in the Mallow property on a date unknown between January 9 and 23 of 2001. Breaking his silence Tim’s heartbroken brother Pat, 80, said his sibling was a quiet man who never did anyone any harm.
The family of the man who's remains became ''mummified'' now speak out (Virgin Media One)Speaking from his home in County Monaghan he told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “Tim was a mild-mannered person who went his own way and never hurt anybody. He left school at 15 years of age and went into the printing trade, but he always wanted to travel and see the world, and that’s what he did. When he did his time in the printing trade he went back to England and worked as a porter in a hospital. He loved Judo and swimming.”
Mr O’Sullivan’s inquest heard how Council worker Paul O’Donoghue found the remains. O’Donoghue said: “I could see a bed in the middle of the floor. I then saw the shape of legs under the duvet, and a coat laid on top. I realised it was a human body.” Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster said there was no suggestion he died in any manner other than peacefully in his bed.
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Speaking to the Irish Sunday Mirror Tim’s nephew Neil said the family had done everything they could to locate Tim, but were led to believe he’d moved away. He said: “It was such a shock for the family. The family did everything they could to locate him. They rang the guards in Cork and Noreen [his sister] went down too but there were no leads at all. They tried every avenue going.
“The family from what they heard believed he had gone back to the UK. Noreen travelled [home] from Australia and went looking for Tim as nobody had heard from him. She was standing outside his house at one stage and couldn’t get in so went asking the neighbours. They thought he had gone back to the UK.
“Little did they know he was lying inside.” He added: “If someone tells you they believe someone has moved back to England you believe them.
“Twenty years is a long time for him to have been there. When my dad got the call he wasn’t the better of it, he was rattled. The family were shocked more than anything else about it all. You can see it in my father, he’s seriously rattled. Everybody should be checked on, there is nothing more the family could have done and did their best to try and find him.”
The Mallow property was boarded up in 2015 by Cork County Council after a councillor alerted the local authority to broken windows at the cottage, the inquest heard.
Gardai found a sum in cash equivalent to £6,978 a receipt from Tesco dated January 9, 2001 and a cheque book in the name of Timothy O’Sullivan. They also found diary entries from January 9, 10 and 11 2001. In one of the diaries Mr O’Sullivan had noted that he had gone to Tesco “for the first time”.
His family said in a statement read out at the inquest: “We are deeply concerned that this tragedy may not be an isolated incident. In a nation with over 180,000 derelict properties we worry that similar cases could remain hidden.” Tim’s distraught brother Pat said: “After he came back to Ireland [from the UK] he settled in Cork and was there for years. He is very sadly missed by his family, rest in peace Tim.”