Here at Finders International Ireland, our case managers and representatives deal with a wide variety of fascinating cases week in week out.

Rep Jim Herlihy shares an interesting story that features a remarkable coincidence.

Before joining Finders Ireland, Jim served as Garda officer for 30 years in Blarney, County Cork, retiring in 2013.

Jim says: “One of the most difficult aspects of policing during my service was delivering death notices about a loved one to families, which is similar to the role of a Finders rep, although more often in the latter, the deceased is a distant, and in many cases, an estranged relative.

Dealing with grief

“However, the reaction of the notified relatives varies considerably depending on their relationship with the deceased and how they deal with the grief.”

Back in his Garda days in 1980, Jim had to deliver a death notice when the body of a young women from Blarney was washed upon the rocks of Crosshaven, Co. Cork.

The woman was thought to be Ms Costelloe, had been travelling to England to visit her brother in London when she was reported missing off a ferry on her return to Cork. The clothes on the body matched her brother’s description of what she had been wearing.

Identify the body

Jim was given the unenviable task of notifying Imelda’s immediate family to ask someone to identify the body.

Jim continues: “What I didn’t bargain for is that the person who answered the door was Imelda’s identical twin sister, Teresa. Also at home at the time was her recently widowed mother, also called Imelda and her brother Sean. All three insisted on seeing the body, though it was not my wish to show them.

“I sought advice from a sergeant who was stationed in a maritime station who had dealt with several similar circumstances. His advice was to warn them, but if they insisted, show them the body as otherwise they might live in denial, which prolongs their grief. Imelda was eventually identified by dental records.”

Power of attorney

Fast forward almost 40 years to June 2019 and in a strange turn of fate, Jim was asked to visit someone in Cork City and present an agreement to a man who had power of attorney for his mother.

The case referred to Marie Celine Brennan who, at the age of 90 years had died unmarried and intestate, in the UK and the man with power of attorney was Sean Costelloe, brother of Imelda.

Marie Celine Brennan was his mother’s sister.

Satisfaction

Sean Costelloe was able to relate and repeat to Jim every word of Jim’s conversation with his family at his home and in the patrol car in 1980 and his satisfaction with the manner in which the death notice was delivered.

Jim adds: “The lesson learned is how important it is for reps to be aware that how they deliver the death notice can have long lasting effects, irrespective of the value of the estate.”

As the final note to this story, Marie’s sister [Imelda’s mother] died earlier this year, on 10 January 2023, aged 94.