'Closure' for family 15 years after man's death

Michael Conboy went missing in 2009 at the age of 80

An inquest into the death of a Hull man who went missing 15 years ago has found a "probable" cause of death.

Michael Conboy, 80, went missing in April 2009 after a short illness and in March 2023 it was confirmed a skeleton found on a railway embankment in Hull the previous year was his remains.

At an inquest held earlier at the city's coroner's court, Prof Paul Marks delivered a narrative verdict, stating Mr Conboy was suffering from "confusion and memory loss" when he "left his home address and wandered towards the tracks".

A pathology report could not ascertain how Mr Conboy died, but suggested as no bones were broken he had "most probably" died of natural causes.

Mr Conboy's family said he had "no connection" to Brackley Park, which was four miles from his home in Orchard Park

Speaking at the inquest, Mr Conboy's nephew, Mike McNally, said the family had now had "closure" and "it was nice to have some answers" following the hearing.

He added that he felt relieved on finding out his uncle had most likely died of natural causes, as he had previously believed he had been hit by a train due to the location where his uncle was found.

Mr McNally and another of Mr Conboy's nephews, Anthony Wilkinson, paid tribute to their uncle.

They described him as "very jolly and witty" and "a funny man" and said as he did not have children of his own he "paid a lot of attention" to his nieces and nephews, of whom he had many.

Mr Conboy, one of six siblings, worked for Hull City Council as a groundsman for more than 30 years, and only one of his sisters lived to see his body finally identified.

Mr McNally also thanked the police officers who investigated the case, who he said had "gone above and beyond" in the search for their loved one.

The key ring that held the key to unlocking the mystery of the identity of the skeleton found in 2022

The inquest heard Mr Conboy was suffering from a viral infection shortly before he went missing, and had called his sister late on the evening of 19 April 2009.

In a statement read out in court, Mr Conboy's sister, Ellen King, said he had called her saying "things that didn't make sense" - including he had been "walking underneath his parents' graves".

Mrs King had suggested they see a doctor the next day, but in a statement from Mr Conboy's nephew, Paul Robinson, the court heard they arrived at his home the next morning to find Mr Conboy was not there.

Humberside Police launched a wide-scale missing person's investigation but no progress was made until December 2022, when a dog walker "found a human skull" close to railway tracks in Brackley Park.

The court heard the "skeletal remains" were identified after an appeal by Humberside Police, with Mr Conboy's family making a connection between a New Zealand keyring and two watches found at the scene with the missing man.

DNA matches then confirmed Mr Conboy had finally been found, almost 14 years since his disappearance.

Delivering his conclusion, Prof Marks said although the natural cause of Mr Conboy's death was "speculation", he was satisfied there was "no suspicious circumstances and no third party involvement".

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