Crime & Law

Man arrested as part of investigation into murder of bus driver 15 years ago

Kenneth Fetherston from Tallaght, disappeared in September 2009. Remains were discovered four months later

Gardaí during the search for Kenneth Fetherston in the Dublin mountains, with a missing poster in the foreground. Photograph: Cyril Byrne

Conor Gallagher
Mon Mar 18 2024 - 13:43

Gardaí conducting a cold case review of the murder of Kenneth Fetherston in Dublin 15 years ago have arrested a man.

Mr Fetherston (26), a bus driver from Tallaght, disappeared in September 2009. His skeletal remains were found four months later in the Dublin Mountains, near Rathfarnham.

Gardaí believe he was stabbed to death following a dispute with a group of local men. A postmortem indicated injuries to the head and neck area.

On Monday, gardaí said the investigation into Mr Fetherston’s murder has been continuing since 2010. In 2020, a cold case review was initiated by the Serious Crime Review Team, a unit of the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI).

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The review led to new evidence coming to light allowing gardaí to obtain a search warrant for a residential property in the midlands.

The search was carried out on Monday morning. At the same time, a man in his 40s was arrested in connection with the investigation.

He is detained at a Garda station in the Eastern Region under section 4 of Criminal Justice Act 1984.

It is the sixth arrest in the investigation. Four men aged between 23 and 47 were arrested shortly after the discovery of the body, but were released without charge. Another arrest occurred a few months later.

Gardaí sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), who determined there was insufficient evidence to proceed.

Investigators have long had strong suspicions of who was behind Mr Fetherston’s murder but to date have lacked evidence to secure criminal charges.

Mr Fetherston left his home at the Tallaght Cross Hotel in Dublin 24 just before 9am on September 22nd, 2009, and was last seen later that day at Landy’s Industrial Estate Knocklyon, Dublin 16.

His red Honda Civic was later found near Gorey, Co Wexford, in a lay-by on the N11. Gardaí believe it was dumped there to hinder efforts to find his body.

Conor Gallagher

Conor Gallagher

Conor Gallagher is Crime and Security Correspondent of The Irish Times

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