Human bones found at recycling plant were “teaching aid”

Bones not being treated as suspicious, gardaí say

The discovery of bones at a recycling centre near Bray in Co Wicklow is not being treated as suspicious by the Garda.

A skull and other bones were discovered but gardaí have now concluded they are medical specimens that were used for teaching purposes.

Garda sources had said on Wednesday the bones were not from a person who had died recently and gardaí were never expecting to commence a homicide investigation.

An examination has now confirmed the bones are old and had been used for teaching purposes.

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A Garda spokesman told The Irish Times as the bones had been used as a teaching aid, no offence was disclosed arising from their discovery at the recycling plant on Wednesday.

The spokesman added the bones had now been “returned to their rightful owner”.

Three years ago the body of a new born baby was found at the same facility. The newborn's remains were discovered on May 4th, 2016, by a staff member at a Greenstar recycling centre in Fassaroe near Bray.

Calls for the mother of the baby to come forward went unanswered and the investigation has yet to locate the baby’s parents or where she was originally from.

After the body was discovered in 2016, the child's remains were taken to Loughlinstown Hospital where the state pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy conducted a postmortem, which found no evidence of any deliberate injuries to the child.

Conor Lally

Conor Lally

Conor Lally is Security and Crime Editor of The Irish Times