On Monday morning last week, a passer-by out for an early morning stroll on Bray seafront noticed the body of a middle-aged man which had washed up on the rocks.
The body was discovered at the northern extremity of the beach on the bluish-grey rocks put there to act as a breakwater 15 years ago.
The deceased was white, 186cm (6ft 1in) and extremely thin, weighing just 60kg (9½ stone).
He had blue eyes and dark brown hair greying around the temples. He is thought to have been in his early 40s. He wore a green and brown camouflage jacket, blue jeans and black runner boots. On his back was a green camouflage rucksack. In the rucksack was a pair of glasses.
He had nothing on him that would help an identification: no bank card, social welfare card, driver’s licence or mobile phone.
The passer-by alerted gardaí, who took the body to Loughlinstown Hospital for examination. There was no indication the man had been killed, no marks on his body which suggested a violent death. It is most probable that he drowned.
People go missing all the time. Most turn up alive. Usually when a body is found, gardaí know immediately who it is from past investigations. Sometimes a public appeal is all that is needed for a relative or friend to come forward.
In the week since the discovery, and despite two public appeals, nobody has come forward to identify the body on Bray beach.
A few days after the discovery, somebody placed a wreath of purple lilies on the spot and staked an improvised cross made of twigs in the sand.
Overlooked
Gardaí know no more about the identity of the man than they did when the body was discovered. The state of the body suggests the man died no more than a few days before he was found and, therefore, he must have entered the water relatively close to where he was found.
The beach is overlooked by Bray Head, where many people have taken their lives over the years. This man may be one of them. Alternatively, he may have just slipped off the edge.
"We have no way of knowing," said Garda Declan Lynch from Bray Garda station.
In decades gone by, he said, fishermen could tell accurately where a body could have come from. “I used to be able to tell you which way the tides run, but not anymore.”
The fact that nobody has come forward in the past week suggests this man may have been estranged from his family.
“These circumstances happen in modern society. Sometimes people just choose to opt out and decide not to have contact with their families for a whole host of reasons,”said Garda Lynch.
"He could be from Mayo and maybe down here for a week and might not have told anyone. He may live on his own in a farm in Roscommon. We just don't know. At the end of the day, the poor man is dead."
Gardaí hope to issue a photofit of the man presently.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Bray Garda station on 01-6665300, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.
