Deirdre Jacob murder investigation ‘is not over’, gardaí insist

The Garda investigation into the abduction and murder of Kildare teenager Deirdre Jacob is continuing and detectives still believe people who have not yet come forward have vital information that can help solve the crime.

Garda sources said that while the latest investigative file sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions had not resulted in any charges — against chief suspect and convicted rapist Larry Murphy — the development was “not the end of the investigation”.

The Irish Times revealed at the weekend that the DPP had considered the file on the case, sent by gardaí last year after a new investigation, but had decided the evidence gathered was not strong enough to ground a prosecution.

Gardaí used modern technology to enhance CCTV images from around Newbridge, Co Kildare, on the day Ms Jacob went missing in 1998. However, they did not provide any information that linked Murphy to the crime. The images were not clear enough for witnesses to identify a person captured in the CCTV.

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Furthermore, while a former prisoner came forward to gardaí and claimed Murphy had confided in him that he had abducted and killed Ms Jacob, that evidence alone was not regarded as strong enough. While gardaí believe the information was credible, there were also concerns the man’s criminal background would be used to undermine him if he was used as a witness in a court case.

That man claimed Murphy told him he pulled into the roadside on the pretence of asking Ms Jacob for directions and when she leaned into the vehicle to see what area he was pointing at on a map, he dragged her inside and drove off. The witness claimed the motive for the abduction was sexual but that Murphy panicked because Ms Jacob struggled so much and he killed her immediately.

Gardaí have never found Ms Jacob’s remains and nothing of evidential value was discovered during searches in counties Wicklow and Kildare, including as recently as last October. Those shortcomings in the investigation mean the manner of Ms Jacob’s death is not possible to prove and the location remains unknown, which also undermined the prospects of a prosecution.

For two decades Ms Jacob’s disappearance was investigated as a missing-person inquiry before being upgraded to a murder case in 2018 following a review by the serious crime review team in the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Ms Jacob vanished from the roadside close to her family home just outside Newbridge on July 28th, 1998. The 19-year-old had gone into the town for a bank draft to pay for student accommodation in London where she was studying to become a primary schoolteacher. She vanished on her return home by foot.

Four years ago gardaí travelled to the UK to interview Murphy (56), who did not substantively engage with them. Originally from Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, he was released from prison in 2010 having served 10 years of a 15-year sentence for the kidnapping, rape and attempted murder of a woman in the Wicklow mountains in 2001.