Family’s last-ditch appeal as search prepares to wind down

The GAA, clergymen and public representatives are to be asked to join in the appeal for fresh information to help in the search for the remains of Brendan Megraw, the Belfast man who disappeared in 1978 and was reported to have been shot and his body buried at Oristown Bog. With just two weeks to go to the ending of the search of the five-acre site identified to the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains as Brendan Megraw's burial site, a member of his family, along with a representative of Wave, the cross-community organisation which was formed in 1991 to help bereaved and traumatised victims of the troubles, and an official of the commission, came to Oristown on Monday to speak to the searchers and to promote appeals for further information about the exact location of the burial. Brendan Megraw's brother, Sean, made an appeal for more information last week and, this week, his brother, Kieran, also asked for “that vital piece of information which will help us find Brendan's remainsâ€. Jon Hill, senior investigating officer for the Commission, said that preliminary work had been carried out on part of the site at Oristown in 1999-2000. Renewed investigation and excavation work has been going on there for the last four to five months and Mr Hill said that there were just a couple of weeks to go before they would have eliminated the area indicated to the commission as the site of the burial. He said that recent information had come to the commission in good faith and all they could do was carry out searches based on that information. One of the problems facing the commission and those engaged in the searches lay in people's fading memories and possible changes in the Oristown landscape. “We are hoping that someone out there might be able to provide that last piece of the jigsaw which would lead us to the remains. The information can be given to the commission itself in complete confidence without fear of prosecution, or even passed on through a clergyman or other member of the community. We always try to stay optimistic,†said Mr Hill, who oversees work on the sites. On Monday, men operated diggers alongside four archaeologists who have been involved in the search. Kieran Megraw said that it had been 12 years since the family had been given information that Brendan's body had been buried at Oristown. “Our mother died in 2002 and she focused on this day and night. All she wanted was to get Brendan's body home. We are appealing to people again to try to jog their memories and to contact the commission with any information they have,†he said. Sandra Peake of Wave said that any small piece of information which might seem insignificant to some people could be “highly significant†for members of the commission. She said that the Wave organisation would be helping in any way it could to bring “that last piece of information together†in a bid to recover Brendan Megraw's remains. She said that Wave hoped to contact the GAA network, along with public representatives and clergymen, to join in the appeal for new information. The Disappeared Confidential Number is 00800 555 855 00 or write to ICLVR, PO Box 10827, Dublin 2, Ireland. All information received is treated in confidence under the Disappeared Act which allows individuals to contact the commission without fear of prosecution.