Fresh Crimestoppers appeal for 2006 murder

Gardaí have launched a murder investigation into the death of Gerry Nolan, who was killed in Castlecomer nine years ago.

Mr Nolan died as a result of a fire at his caravan in Deerpark in July 24th, 2006.

At the time, gardaí carried out a full investigation and Mr Nolan was found to have died as a direct result of the fire.

The investigation has remained open and a number of recent lines of enquiry have resulted in additional new evidence, which has led to the upgrading of the case to murder.

A man was seen by a witness loitering around outside the caravan minutes before the fire started, a statement issued by Crimestoppers said.

Acting Det Insp Derek Hughes described Mr Nolan as "a generous, inoffensive and very well-liked" person and appealed to people with information to come forward and contact gardaí in confidence.

The senior investigating officer issued an appeal to members of the public, particularly to those living in the Castlecomer area, for any information that they might have into the circumstances that surrounded Gerry Nolan’s death.

“We know that there are people out there who have information in their possession, which they were not willing to share previously. We hope that with the passage of time people’s perspective and attitude and network of association might change and they might now find themselves in a position to contact us,” he said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Kilkenny gardaí on (056) 7775000

A reconstruction of the events leading up to Mr Nolan’s death will be aired next Monday on RTÉ’s Crimecall at 10pm.