This is devastating.
It’s now believed the body discovered in a fire escape at Westfield Bondi Junction in Sydney‘s eastern suburbs is that of 71-year-old man Bernard Gore, who went missing 21 days ago.
The Hobart native – in Sydney visiting family – was last seen leaving a block of apartments on Ocean Street, in Woollahra, about 12.30pm on January 9 to go shopping at the Westfield complex.
An extensive search was launched when he failed to meet a family member as planned; police appealed to the public for information, while mounted police, a helicopter and emergency services moved through Centennial Park after possible sightings of Gore were phoned in.
There have been grave concerns for his welfare, least of all because he suffered from dementia and was without medication, food or water when he left Woollahra for Bondi on-foot. It’s also been unseasonably hot in Sydney, with temperatures in the city hitting 38 degrees.
Although the body is yet to be formally identified, police have confirmed they believe it’s Gore who was reportedly found by a maintenance worker in a fire stairwell on level four at around 8:00am this morning.
“Police will investigate the man’s death and prepare a report for the information of the Coroner,” read a statement. “The death is not being treated as suspicious.”
Gore’s body is believed to have been in the stairwell for quite some time; if he somehow ended up in the fire escape on or around January 9, it could have been as long as 21 days.
Questions will no doubt be raised about how – with security cameras placed around the centre – no one came across him for such a length of time.
Our thoughts are with his family and friends.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
Photo: Supplied.
