Gardai question man about murder of young prostitute

Gardai were questioning a man last night about the murder of the young Dublin prostitute, Sinead Kelly, after seizing heroin …

Gardai were questioning a man last night about the murder of the young Dublin prostitute, Sinead Kelly, after seizing heroin in Co Meath.

The man was arrested yesterday afternoon following a surveillance operation by officers attached to the National Drugs Bureau.

It is understood heroin worth thousands of pounds and a motorcycle were seized. The man, formerly from Dublin, has been living in a new housing development in Co Meath.

He was one of three men questioned about Ms Kelly's murder on June 21st.

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All three were later released without charge.

Ms Kelly was stabbed with great force by a man who cornered her on the banks of the Grand Canal near Baggot Street Bridge.

She died almost instantly from a wound to her heart caused by one of several powerful blows with a large knife.

Ms Kelly (21) was a heroin addict and was killed because she owed money to a heroin-dealing gang from Dublin. The gang was controlled by a man living outside the city.

She was from a respectable family background in north Dublin but had become addicted to heroin in her late teens and had become a prostitute to finance her addiction.

After her death gardai became concerned that her killers would strike again to intimidate other prostitute-addicts who might be prepared to give evidence against them.

It is believed that two men carried out the killing but that two others, one of them the gang leader, were closely involved in a conspiracy to murder Ms Kelly.

The man being questioned by gardai last night was arrested under drug-trafficking legislation which allows his detention for seven days.