Almost threefold rise in skeletal remains dealt with by State Pathologist’s office

There was an almost 300 per cent increase in the number of cases of skeletal remains dealt with by the State Pathologist’s office last year, a new report has found, a rise likely due to increased outdoor activity during the Covid pandemic.

In 2021, there were 43 cases of skeletonised remains, up from 11 in 2020 and 27 in 2019, representing a 290 per cent annual increase. Of those last year, 28 were documented as being animal bones and 15 as human bones, according to its 2021 annual report, published on Wednesday.

According to the office, this increase was most likely due to increased public outdoor activity, and in part to new service level agreements with independent consultant forensic anthropologists.

A forensic anthropologist was involved in 14 cases where the remains were found to be human and 12 of the cases where the bones were animal.

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Forensically relevant skeletonised remains, which would be those deemed less than 70 years old, are treated as State cases, the report added.

Expert opinon

Seven cases were referred to the office for expert opinion. On average, each case requires approximately 10 hours’ work, although some cases may require almost double that amount of time, according to the annual report.

The majority of cases examined by the State Pathologist’s office last year were those in which foul play was suspected, referred to as State cases.

[ More dog walking during Covid-19 led to rise in skeleton discoveries, pathologist says ]

During 2021, 327 cases were dealt with by the office. The caseload was down from 345 in 2020 and 335 in 2019. However, it is still higher than in 2018 and 2017, during which time there were 286 cases and 261 cases respectively.

The majority of last year’s cases were State forensic cases, with 182, or 56 per cent, of the total caseload being this case type.

Attendance at the scene of death was recorded in 30 of the 182 cases (16.5 per cent) in 2021.

Non-suspicious postmortems

In 2021, 107 of the 182 cases involved travel to a mortuary outside of the pathologist’s locality. In total, 570.5 hours were spent solely on travelling to cases, equating to 71 working days or approximately 14 working weeks.

The Office of the State Pathologist also carried out 95 adult non-suspicious postmortem examinations, at the direction of the Dublin District Coroner in 2021.

Cases continue to have a wide geographic distribution across Ireland, the annual report states.

The numbers of postmortem evaluations carried out in each province during 2021 were as follows: 107 (59 per cent) in Leinster, 46 (25 per cent) in Munster, 15 (8 per cent) in Connaught and 14 (8 per cent) in Ulster.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said the annual report demonstrated the “complex work” undertaken by the country’s forensic pathologists and “the additional challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic”.

“The Office of the State Pathologist continues to be the liaison between the coroners, An Garda Síochána, the faculty of pathology in the Royal College of Physicians Ireland and mortuaries around the country,” she said.

“Through her work with the faculty of pathology and because of this unique position, the Chief State Pathologist is currently chairing a review group for the HSE Standards in postmortem examination services. The updated guidelines will be available later this year.”