'2,000 inquiries in hunt for NI murder victim's body'
Nearly 2,000 lines of inquiry have been probed in a two-year hunt for the body of an alleged IRA murder victim, it emerged today.
As Gareth O’Connor’s family made a new appeal for help to end their agony, police insisted the investigation was still alive.
Mr O’Connor, 24, vanished in May 2003 after leaving his home in Armagh to sign bail conditions in the Republic of Ireland.
He was facing a charge of being a member of the dissident Real IRA.
The father of two was abducted and killed by the Provisionals before his body was secretly buried along the border, police believe.
Despite a huge search involving Garda co-operation, nothing has been found.
His mother Bernadette said the family were trapped until they could give him a proper burial.
She said: “All we ask is that we are given our basic human rights.
“Gareth is gone, he has been taken away from us. But someone, somewhere can answer our prayers by helping us find his body.
“We just want our son back again, so we can bury him and visit his grave.”
The family are uncertain about why he was targeted.
Although it has been alleged Mr O’Connor was a police informer, they have suggested the body builder could have been murdered for defying the local IRA.
Five men have been questioned about the disappearance but all released without charge.
His partner Leona O’Hare today focused on his role as a loving and caring father.
“There is not a day that passes that I don’t think about Gareth and what became of him,” she said.
“Gareth’s little boys are seven and three-years-old now. They will never see their daddy again.”
Police on both sides of the Irish border have gone from house to house in a bid to discover what happened.
They remain baffled over where Mr O’Connor’s body and blue Volkswagen Golf were dumped.
They believe he was seized somewhere on the road between Newtownhamilton, Co Armagh and the Garda station in Dundalk where he was due to report in.
Amid fears that the victim could become another of the so-called disappeared - IRA victims whose remains lay undetected for decades – Superintendent Derek Williamson, stressed that police had not given up hope.
“The investigation has led to close on 2,000 specific inquiries and amassed over 1,500 separate documents,” the senior investigating officer disclosed.
“This is still very much a live investigation.”
Mr Williamson, who backed Chief Constable Hugh Orde’s assessment that the Provisionals were involved, appealed to anyone fearing the consequences of going to the police.
“I’m not encouraging people to come directly to us. I recognise there will be people who are anxious or apprehensive about that,” he said.
“They can get that information to us through a solicitor, respected community leader or even a priest.”
