Belfast man James O’Neill, or Jim as he was known, led an unconventional life. He was according to his family a highly intelligent man in his 40s who lived nomadically, sometimes sleeping rough, moving between cities. His body found was found in Dublin’s Phoenix Park in November 2023 but his parents, Paul and Ann O’Neill were not informed of their son’s death until 13 months later. That’s because his body was not identified when he was found or during the postmortem despite the fact that he had nine forms of ID in the pocket of his anorak. So how were they found and why did it take so long to find them?

Source: The Irish Times February 17, 2026 20:29 UTC