GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the background of convicted rapist Larry Murphy were this morning expected to resume their search of an isolated area in Co Wicklow where 12 years ago he was seen holding captive a woman he had just raped.
Gardaí have decided to again search the countryside and a hunting lodge in Kilranelagh, west Wicklow, based on a report compiled by a UK scientist with an interest in studying criminal behaviour.
The unidentified man appears to have developed an interest in the case of Murphy and also in his alleged but unsubstantiated links with the disappearances of a number of women in Leinster in the 1990s including Annie McCarrick, Jo Jo Dullard and Deirdre Jacob.
The scientist visited the area where two hunters in 2000 spotted Murphy holding his victim in his car. Murphy saw the two hunters and fled, enabling the two men to rescue the victim.
The academic appears to have walked the land and happened across the hunting lodge close to where Murphy was interrupted attacking his victim. His investigations have now resulted in a search of the area in question. The Garda search began yesterday and is expected to last for much of today. A team of around 20 gardai is involved.
Garda sources described the search as speculative and precautionary, adding the force had a duty to follow up any information on serious cases, even if that information is grounded in theory or speculation rather than fact-based evidence. Nothing of any interest in relation to Murphys criminal past or the missing women was found during yesterday’s search.
The media has constantly linked Murphy to the cases of the women who are missing presumed murdered. However, a number of Garda investigations, including the high profile Operation Trace, have found no evidence to link Murphy to any of the women and have found no evidence linking any of the womens cases to each other.
In 2000, Murphy kidnapped his 28-year-old businesswoman victim from a car park in Carlow town, drove her into the Wicklow mountains, raped her several times and threw her into his car with a shopping bag over her head in an apparent attempt to suffocate her.
The woman in her mid-20s was saved when two hunters stumbled upon the scene where Murphy had stopped his car, causing him to flee in the vehicle.
The attack scene was just three kilometres from the home he shared with his wife and two children. He was arrested at home a short time later after one of the men who disturbed the attack recognised him.
He was jailed for 15 years in 2001 and allowing for periods of remission and the backdating of his sentence to the time of his arrest, he was released in August 2010 having served his full sentence. His release caused a media frenzy and has led to repeated reports linking him to the missing women.
Now aged 47 years, he left Ireland after his release from jail and returned only briefly to replace a stolen passport. He is currently believed to be living in Continental Europe, though his whereabouts are unknown.
The location of the old hunting lodge and surrounding wooded hillside searched yesterday is known as Kilranelagh. It is about eight kilometres north of Baltinglass, close to the Co Carlow border.
The wooden hut was built more than 20 years ago and is located about a half mile along a forest track from the nearest country lane.