Gardaí investigating the murder last Monday of a 22-year-old man in Dublin have found the getaway car used in the killing.
Forensic specialists were last night continuing to examine the blue Mitsubishi Lancer, which was found partly burned out in Baldoyle following a report from a member of the public. The car was fitted with false number plates.
James Purdue, a father of one, died in Beaumont Hospital early on Monday, shortly after he was shot twice at close range outside the apartment complex where he lived in Donaghmede. He was the sixth murder victim in the area. This was the State's 26th violent death this year. Gardaí said he was known to them as someone "on the periphery" of the drugs business in north Dublin.
The discovery of the getaway car came amid a series of severe measures taken by gardaí in north Dublin since Mr Purdue's murder. As part of Operation Canopy, gardaí yesterday carried out a number of house searches in the Coolock area, set up several checkpoints and put known criminals who have recently moved from Coolock under surveillance.
One house search yesterday morning resulted in a seizure of €6,000 of cocaine and the arrest of one man.
Mr Purdue's mother yesterday denied that her son was killed over a drug debt. "James worked from the time he was 11 years of age and always had money; he never owed anyone a penny," Denise Purdue told RTÉ News. "James always had money. He wouldn't owe anyone money. I don't know [why he was killed], I just don't know," she said. "It could have been anything but I definitely don't think it was over drugs . . . or owing drug money."
Mr Purdue was a friend of Patrick Lawlor, who disappeared after leaving his home in Darndale in December 2004 but gardaí have yet to make any link between the killing and the missing man. Gardaí yesterday also appealed for information on the disappearance of Mr Lawlor, whose 25th birthday falls today.
Meanwhile, Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy said gardaí had managed to prevent a number of killings in Dublin city centre. Answering questions before the Dáil Public Accounts Committee yesterday, the commissioner said that gardaí faced a difficulty in that some people, including some who had been attacked, were not prepared to make statements to members of the force.