Quick results not expected in search for 'disappeared'

09/11/2009 - 18:12:26
Forensic investigators who today began digging bogland for the remains of a man murdered and secretly buried 30 years ago are not expecting any immediate breakthroughs.

Information passed to the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains (ICLVR) earlier this year has led to fresh searches for the body of south Armagh man Gerard Evans.

One of the so-called Disappeared, it is alleged the IRA abducted the then 24-year-old as he was hitching a lift home from a dance in 1979 before killing and dumping him in the bogland at Carrickrobin, Co Louth.

While the IRA leadership has denied involvement, a purported member of its south Armagh brigade told a Sunday newspaper he was part of a 12-member team who carried out the killing.

The revelation sparked a geophysical survey and drainage of the land near Hackballscross, part of which was under water.

The area has been divided into grids and an archaeological ’time-team’ headed up by top scientific detective Geoff Knupfer are now excavating particular areas based on the results of the survey.

But an ICLVR spokesman cautioned against hopes of an immediate breakthrough, pointing out that investigators were onsite in the Wicklow Mountains for 18 months before recovering the remains of Disappeared victim Danny McIlhone last year.

“There won’t be large scale excavation but there will be clearance of some soil,” he said.

“We’ll be there for as long as it takes but we expect to be there for a considerable period.”

Raising hopes for the families of victims whose remains have yet to be recovered, Mr Knupfer last month said direct contact with the IRA led to a breakthrough in finding Mr McIlhone’s remains, at isolated bogland on the side of Wicklow’s second highest peak, Mullaghcleevaun.

Information to the ICLVR, set up by the Irish and British governments to locate the remains of the Disappeared, was previously being fed through intermediaries, according to the former Greater Manchester detective who helped find the bodies of Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley’s child victims.

However, security sources warned that direct talks do not automatically guarantee every remaining body will be found.

Excavations and surveys are also being carried out at Colgagh, Co Monaghan, for the remains of Charlie Armstrong; at Coghalstown, Co Meath, for Seamus Wright and Kevin McKee; and at Oristown, Co Meath, for Brendan Megraw.

It is understood a search for IRA victim Columba McVeigh at Bragan, Co Monaghan, is also nearing an end.