Family of missing Achill man to sue Dutch police

Family of missing Achill man to sue Dutch police


Anton McNulty
antonmcnulty@mayonews.ie

The family of Achill man, JP Grealis, who went missing while working in Holland, are to take legal action against the Dutch police for what they see as their failure to adequately investigate the case.
James Patrick (JP) Grealis from Tonragee, Achill went missing in the Dutch town of Breda in October 2008 while looking for work and there has been no sign of him since.
JP’s family have been very critical of the Dutch authorities handling of the case and want it to be re-opened.
His sister, Helen Grealis said the family were in the process of taking a case against the police and were willing to take the matter to the European Court of Human Rights, if necessary.
“We’re in talks to take legal action at the moment and we’re consulting with our lawyer on what options are open to us,” she said.
When the 24-year-old carpenter first went missing after leaving a guesthouse in Breda to look for work, the matter was not investigated by the police to the standard his family believe to be acceptable.
They said they did not interview people he had seen, or look into his phone records or bank records – despite the fact they have not been touched.
The Grealis family have fought a constant battle with the Dutch authorities to get them to properly investigate the case and despite succeeding to get the case re-opened last April, it was closed  again in July.
“It was only opened for a matter of months. They did nothing at all, it was all just going through the motions. I think they only reopened it because pressure was put on them by the Irish Government. A five-page report is not a proper investigation.
“They still haven’t talked to the last guy my brother lived with. I’ve spoken to him myself and he was surprised not to have been contacted. They haven’t followed up on bank records or phone records either, said Ms Grealis.

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