A body exhumed from an Irish cemetery is not that of a teenage IRA victim who was murdered in 1975 and listed as one of "disappeared," forensic tests have revealed.
The exam showed skeletal remains taken from a plot beside Urbleshanny Church near Scotstown in County Monaghan are not those of Columba McVeigh.
The grave was opened in June after a tip-off from a priest that there may have been a secret burial in the grave. Relatives of the County Tyrone man, who was abducted by the IRA in Dublin in 1975, had hoped the latest dig would bring an end to their search for answers over his disappearance.
Frank Murray and Sir Ken Bloomfield, commissioners of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains, said DNA tests showed the remains are not linked to any of the "disappeared."
Sixteen people were murdered and secretly buried by republican paramilitaries during the Troubles. Nine bodies have been recovered. One of the dead, Eugene Simons, was found in 1984, three years after his murder, while eight others have been recovered since the commission was set up in 1999.
In a statement, the ICLVR commissioners said: "Nothing suspicious or that requires further garda or ICLVR investigation was discovered during the exhumation or subsequent forensic examination. The remains removed will be re-interred in due course."
Oliver McVeigh, Columba's brother, said the commissioners would be going back to original sources to try to establish more detail.
"I'm not surprised but disappointed, tinged with disappointment," he said.
"I had that wee glimmer of hope even though they were fairly confident that it was not him. They were leaving no stone unturned to try and recover his remains. It had to be eliminated before trying to move on and look for more information. It's back to square one."
