Dig begins for remains of Troubles victim 50 years after disappearance

Half a century after Seamus Maguire was abducted and became one of the “disappeared” of Northern Ireland’s Troubles, a search for his remains has begun in two acres of County Antrim farmland.

A team of forensic experts started the dig on Tuesday in the Derryclone townland where republican paramilitaries are believed to have killed and secretly buried the 29-year-old in 1976.

The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR), an agency tasked with finding bodies of the disappeared, said “credible evidence” indicated Maguire was buried in the area.

It is not clear if the Provisional Irish Republican Army or another republican group killed Maguire, who was from Aghagallon, near Lurgan. Originally it was believed that he vanished in 1973 or 1974 but it was later determined that he may have spent time in Manchester before returning to Northern Ireland, and being murdered, in 1976.

The team will search until it finds what it seeks or is satisfied that Maguire is not there, said Eamonn Henry, the lead investigator. “I’m not going to put a specific timeframe on the search.”

In a statement Maguire’s family called him a “much loved eldest brother” who had been missed for more than 50 years. They expressed hope his body would be recovered so he could be buried in St Patrick’s graveyard in Aghagallon with his parents, May and Patrick. “Our mum looked for Seamus right up until the day that she died.” The family thanked the commission and appealed for privacy.

A forensic scientist in Derryclone, Co Armagh, where a search is under way for Seamus Maguire. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA

Of the approximately 3,600 people killed in the Troubles, the fate of the 17 officially designated “disappeared” proved especially harrowing for families. Some for a time nurtured false hope that their loved ones were alive before agonising over when, where and how they were killed. The absence of a body compounded grief.

The commission, which was established by the 1998 Good Friday agreement, has found 13 of the 17 bodies, leaving four that are still missing: Maguire, Joe Lynskey, and Columba McVeigh.