Sister to visit area Ruth was tragically found

Sister to visit area Ruth was tragically found

3 April 2019

THE RNLI are to take the family of Newcastle woman Ruth Maguire to the spot where they recovered her body from Carlingford Lough, her grieving sister has revealed.

It is the final mark of respect they can show to the 30 year-old’s relatives after they recovered her on March 19.

It is believed that the devoted mother of three fell from the harbour after she went missing from a group of friends socialising at a hen party in the coastal Co Louth town on Saturday, March 16.

Her sister, Rachel Wilkinson, said that they “will be forever grateful” to the Newcastle lifeboat team who found their youngest sibling.

“The RNLI in Newcastle were amazing to us and thank God they found Ruth,” said Mrs Wilkinson.

“We can’t thank them enough. They have promised to take us all out in the boat to where they found Ruth so we all can leave flowers and say a few prayers. For me that will be some nice closure as we have already been shown where they think she fell from.”

Ms Maguire, from Burren Meadow in Newcastle, was due to get married to her fiancé Jim Griffin in St Patrick’s Church in Bryansford on August 8. 

She was the mother of three children — Tyler (10), Lydia (7) and five year-old Oliver — who all attend St Mary’s Primary School in Newcastle.

It is expected that an inquest into Ms Maguire’s death will take place in Louth early next year. Mrs Wilkinson confirmed that her family have not yet received the results of a post mortem.

On behalf of her family who are originally from the north Belfast area, Mrs Wilkinson had recently spoken of their concerns that there were no barriers at the harbour to protect people from falling in.

She also confirmed that the tide was out at the time they believed Ms Maguire fell.

Gardai have described the incident as a “tragic event”.

Mrs Wilkinson said: ‘It was very surreal going back for the candlelight vigil in Carlingford on the Sunday night as we were there the whole time during the search.

“That night we were all struck at just how open and unprotected the harbour was. 

“I still can’t understand why she crossed the road to the harbour as the last picture she posted showed she had got herself to the right part of town where the women were staying for a few nights.

“I just think that if they have had been a barrier there it would have prevented it or if there had been CCTV there, we would have known more about what happened.”

She added: “Ruth was really sensible and I just don’t think she would have walked beyond where it was safe to. No-one knows exactly what happened but then my mum said that it wasn’t the sensible Ruth as she had a few drinks. That was completely out of character for her as she wasn’t used to a lot of drink.

“Ruth rarely went out socially and for her to be away from the children for two nights had never happened before. I’d assumed she would have been driving that weekend at the hen party as she even drove at my hen party.”

She said that the family would be meeting with politicians and whoever they could to see if anything could be done about providing barriers.

“The real thing is to try and prevent what happened to Ruth happening to anyone else,” said Mrs Wilkinson.

“As the days go on, I just keep asking myself, ‘What would Ruth have wanted?’ and I know she would not want what happened to her to happen to anyone else.”

Mrs Wilkinson described her sister as a “busy bee who would make others tired with her energy level.”

“Ruth would have two or three jobs on the go and would have taken the children to every class and activity she could manage. She make other mums feel lazy,” she said.

Ms Maguire had worked as a nursing assistant helping with the Schools Immunisation Programme for the South Eastern Health and Social Services Trust.

Mrs Wilkinson also spoke of the family’s connection with the Newcastle area.

“We used to spend every summer in Newcastle as our father’s family are from Bryansford, so the family has always had a strong connection to Co Down. 

“Ruth and her partner Jim had lived a few places in the area but they had settled in Newcastle for the last two years and seemed to really love it there.”

She also paid tribute to Mr Griffin for his determination to remain in Newcastle to raise his family.

“I can’t tell you how much help and support that the people of Newcastle and Bryansford have shown us and the local people who have come up to Mummy to show their respects. We appreciate it all,” she said. 

At Monday night’s meeting of Newry, Mourne and Down Council, chairman Mark Murnin extended his sympathy to the Maguires following the St Patrick’s weekend tragedy in Carlingford.

He also extended his sympathy to the families of best friends Shane McAnallen and Martin Patterson who died in a car crash in Carlingford on March 18.