STRABANE Council has quashed the hopes of an Omagh family, hoping to find the body of Gerard Slattery (16) who disappeared 33 years ago, by refusing to exhume a mass grave.
Gerard's brother, Paul, has vowed to continue his search after their father Gerry (74) passed away recently without ever finding out what happened to his son and he has threatened to take the Council to court in order to authorise the exhumation of bodies buried in a mass grave.
However, a spokesperson for the Council stressed unless there was exact information of the body's location they would not be disturbing any graves.
"Strabane District Council recognise that this is a very sensitive matter and have every sympathy with Mr Slattery in the search for his brother's remains," said the spokesperson.
"Strabane Council exhumed one body last year and unfortunately DNA tests showed that it was not the missing brother of Paul Slattery. Following this exhumation, Council unanimously agreed that no more graves should be opened and no further bodies should be disturbed without further information in relation to the precise whereabouts of the remains."
Gerard Slattery went missing in November 1973 after going to Mass. His brother Paul has spearheaded a new campaign to try to find him and has spent the last five years searching for information.
He said of calls for an exhumation of the mass grave, "If they (Council) do say 'no' the next step is to take it through the courts. It's been 18 months since the last exhumation and we just need to know either way."
Police said a body found in 1974 and exhumed in Strabane last year was not that of the teenager. The body was removed from a mass burial pit in a Strabane cemetery, where locals believed an unidentified body had been buried decades ago.
Mr Slattery, who now lives in Lisnaskea, Co. Fermanagh, knew that a body was pulled out of the water at Burndennet by fishermen in February 1974. The body remains unidentified. A grave-digger pinpointed a workhouse grave at a Strabane cemetery where he had buried a body that year and, after a 12-month battle, the unmarked plot was re-opened.
But DNA tests on bone fragments revealed that it was not Gerard. Now Paul Slattery is trying to have more bodies exhumed, and may take the matter to court.
"I am sad that my father has died still not knowing what happened to Gerard," he said. "At the moment we are at a standstill. I want to have more bodies exhumed but the council is not giving me a straight answer, yes or no.
Strabane councillors recently passed a unanimous motion stating more graves cannot be opened without 'precise information.'
Local Cllr Eugene McMenamin said, "Obviously the family would dearly love to find their son and brother, as any family in the world would. The council will facilitate the family in every way possible."
