A bride-to-be who drowned while on a friend’s hen do had tried to call her fiancé in her last moments, her sister has revealed.
Ruth Maguire, 30, died after falling into Carlingford Lough on the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland on March 16, months before she was due to marry partner James Griffin.
The mother-of-three was buried in her wedding dress at St Vincent de Paul Church in Ligoniel, north Belfast, last month.
Her sister Rachel Wilkinson has now revealed Mr Griffin discovered two missed calls from her on his work phone made on the night she died – and only found them two weeks after her funeral when he switched it back on.
Ruth Maguire, left, 30, who drowned on a hen do on the Irish border last month tried to call her fiance James Griffin, right, on his work mobile just minutes before she died
Mr Griffin, pictured with his partner of 12 years and their three children, found two missed calls on his work mobile from her on the night of her death – but he only discovered them two weeks after her funeral because he had the phone turned off the whole time
Ms Wilkinson, left, said the family had found some ‘comfort’ after realising Ms Maguire was trying to get home
She told the Belfast Telegraph: ‘The thing I couldn’t work out initially, after Ruth went missing, was that she’d been on her phone but I didn’t know what she was doing.
‘Then when Jim went back to work two weeks after the funeral, he turned on his work phone and saw that Ruth had called him twice at 12:06am, so it all makes sense now.’
Ms Wilkinson said she believes her sister, who was with her partner for 12 years, was trying to get Mr Griffin to give her a lift back home to Newcastle in County Down, Northern Ireland but must have ‘accidentally’ called his work mobile.
She added it was a ‘comfort’ to the family that she had been trying to get home before she died.
Ms Wilkinson said the family believes Miss Maguire must have tripped over and hit her head before falling into the water.
She added: ‘Ruth wasn’t a party girl on a hen night who ended up in the Lough. Ruth lived for her children, she was a lovely family person, a great mum and a fantastic human being.’
Crowds of mourners turned out last month for her funeral in Belfast, pictured, and she was buried in her wedding dress
Ms Maguire, 30, with her sister Rachel Wilkinson (left) and friend Michelle McCabe (right)
Emergency services are pictured at the scene on Carlingford Lough, pictured, last month
Earlier this month Ms Wilkinson revealed how she had told her sister’s children how ‘mummy had gone to heaven’ – but her youngest son Oliver, five, did not understand.
She said: ‘Tyler is 10, Lydia is six and Oliver is five. I don’t think Oliver really understands.
‘Lydia is just trying to work it out in her head how it’s all going to work. “Who’s doing my hair for Irish dancing?” and she’s asking for things that belonged to Ruth.’
Ms Maguire, who lived in Newcastle, County Down in Northern Ireland, had rented a property for the weekend with friends just five minutes’ walk from Taaffe’s Bar.
On the night she went missing it is believed she told the doorman she intended to walk home to Newcastle, and at around midnight she posted a photo on Instagram with the Lough in the background.
By 11.30pm, the rest of the hen party were back in the house and realised Ruth was not with them.
Her friends started searching for her immediately after realising she was missing.
They then raised the alarm, prompting a much wider search by police, the coastguard and members of the public.
Hundreds of tearful mourners attended the funeral service last month, where Ms Maguire’s coffin, covered in flowers, was carried by her partner James Griffin and followed by her three children.
Friends have described Ms Maguire as ‘the most loving, hardworking and caring mother to her three beautiful children’ who, along with her partner, ‘worked tirelessly to give their children the best that they possibly could in life’.
Speaking after her body was recovered on Monday, her fiancé James Griffin paid an emotional tribute, writing on Facebook: ‘Ruth wasn’t just my partner, she was my soul mate. Stay safe love always James and your three beautiful children.’