A man has been reunited with the Irish father he believed he had cremated five years ago. John Renehan saw father on a missing persons appeal television programme five years after a coroner formally identified his body at an inquest.
It emerged that John Delaney (71) was alive and had been living in a care home in Oldham, Greater Manchester, since 2000.
He was found in the street suffering from amnesia and was unable to reveal his identity. Mr Delaney was then given the name David Harrison by Oldham Social Services.
Mr Renehan (42), of Didsbury, close to Manchester, responded to the broadcast appeal earlier this year for anyone who recognised “David Harrison” to come forward. The pair were reunited two weeks ago after DNA tests confirmed they were father and son.
Greater Manchester Police has opened an inquiry to establish the true identity of the man who was cremated in 2003.
The mix-up happened after the discovery of a badly decomposed body in the grounds of Manchester Royal Infirmary on January 10th, 2003.
The body was found to match the description of Mr Delaney, who was reported missing from a hostel in April 2000.
Injuries detected were similar to those suffered historically by Mr Delaney, and the clothing of the body was similar to what he was wearing when he disappeared, police said.
There were no suspicious circumstances and the matter was passed to the coroner. An inquest was held where the body was formally identified as Mr Delaney and an open verdict was recorded.
Mr Renehan has demanded an apology from police for not running DNA checks on the body, but such tests were not widely used to identify decomposed bodies at the time.
Mr Renehan claimed his father’s memory is slowly starting to improve as he bids to retrace his history. It is believed Mr Delaney is originally from Co Laois.
PA