Relatives of a Northern Ireland man who disappeared three years ago have spoken of their shock on learning that he is believed to have been murdered. The remains of Mr Timothy Sullivan (21) were discovered 18 months ago, but detectives formally identified him only in the past week.
Det Supt John Short, who is leading a murder inquiry, believes the man was beaten to death on August 25th or 26th, 1995, close to where his remains were found.
The discovery was made in bogland by an embankment near Derriaghy, on the southern outskirts of Belfast. A man has been charged with murder.
Mr Sullivan was on bail at the time of his killing, and his stepfather, Mr Billy McFadden, claimed the family learned he had not been listed as a missing person because the RUC believed he had absconded. They were informed of his death on Wednesday.
Mr McFadden said: "We kept on living in hope that he would walk through the door. It is better that at least we know now and our search is over at last, unfortunately not the way we would have liked it. We're all gutted, just gutted."
Medical experts initially suggested Mr Sullivan's remains were those of a woman when they were discovered last year, and the death was treated as "suspicious". It transpired only in April that the victim had apparently been murdered.
The RUC established that it was dealing with a male victim three weeks ago, Det Supt Short said at a Belfast news conference yesterday. Mr Sullivan's mother was "extremely distraught".
"They felt that Timothy was one of the many people that are reported missing to police. For some reason he was not returning home, but they didn't believe at any stage that their son had been murdered or had met his death. It is the last thing any parent would want to hear, that their child is dead and has died in such horrific circumstances."
He said in 24 years as a detective he had never known it to take so long to identify a person.