A NEW search is to take place next Sunday for the body of a postman who was last seen on Christmas Day, 1929.
The case of Waterford postman Larry Griffin has been shrouded in mystery since his disappearance and was the subject of a dramatic court case, radio documentaries and a book.
Radar and specialised magnetic machinery are to be used to find his body, although hopes are slim that anything will be found at the location near the seaside village of Stradbally in Co Waterford.
Ten people, including two gardaí, a school principal and a publican, were charged with his murder. He was last seen in Stradbally on December 25th, 1929, but all were acquitted when the chief witness withdrew his evidence.
No one else was subsequently charged in relation to his disappearance.
One theory suggests he is buried in Ballyvoile, close to Stradbally, under a road which was the subject of roadworks around Christmas of 1929.
This search will take place in the Ballyvoile area next Sunday and a Wexford-based company, Apex Geoservices, has offered its expertise in modern underground surveying techniques to search for remains.
The search has been instigated by academic and historian Fachtna Ó Drisceoil, author of the book The Missing Postman – What Really Happened to Larry Griffin? along with the Griffin family.
Mr Ó Drisceoil said the story about the roadworks was always part of the folklore surrounding Griffin’s disappearance but, since his book was published last year, a county council document seen by the postman’s grandson, Séamus Mulrennan, confirmed that there were indeed roadworks in Ballyvoile around Christmas 1929.
“It gave the story more credence,” he said, before warning that hopes should not be pitched too high.