Podcast tips lead to further searches in Jón Jónsson case
The family of missing Icelandic man Jón Jónsson have said that the gardaí have conducted further searches into the poker player's disappearance.
Tips submitted to gardaí as a result of the ' Where is Jón? ' podcast series from RTÉ and RÚV, the public service broadcaster in Iceland, resulted in new searches last month across a number of areas in Dublin with the assistance of human remains detection dogs.
Mr Jónsson, 41, disappeared in Dublin while attending the Dublin Poker Festival with his then partner, Kristiana Guðjónsdóttir.
He was last seen exiting the Bonnington Hotel and walking down the Swords Road past the entrance to Highfield Hospital, heading towards Collins Avenue junction on 9 February 2019.
Since Mr Jónsson's disappearance, gardaí have followed more than 270 lines of inquiry.
Last year, a search was conducted of Santry Demense Park based on two anonymous letters, one sent to the gardaí and the other to a priest's house in north Dublin. Further searches took place in north Dublin in February 2024.
While the searches proved unsuccessful, Mr Jónsson's brother David Karl Wiium said it was important to "leave no stone unturned".
"It's really important to basically leave no stone unturned and always look into every possibility at any given time. So that's very optimistic and it fills us with hope."
The family have welcomed a recent meeting in the Hague between the gardaí, Europol and the Icelandic investigation team.
Mr Wiium said the family had been seeking more cooperation between the gardaí and Icelandic authorities, adding that the meeting in the Hague was a "huge" development.
"Basically, we have been fighting for the Icelandic police and the gardaí to work closer together throughout the years. So, for us, it's a huge victory that they have already met and that they have already established more personal connections and cooperation. And what I've been told by the gardaí, the Icelandic police were very cooperative."
It is understood that gardaí have a list of people they wish to interview about the case.
The Icelandic authorities have told gardaí they are happy to assist with the investigation and will provide them with interpreters, police officers and transport.
The family expect a team from An Garda Síochána to shortly travel to Iceland for the first time.
The Jónsson family met with An Garda Síochána in March to discuss the investigation.
Mr Wiium added: "This visit was different, and I could feel it. We were all there, the siblings, our mother, we could just feel the energy was right, and we could really, we really believe, and we can really feel that the gardaí are really trying our best, and they're really on our side in this so yes, 100% and how they have kept up the communication with myself and the family since we left, it's really it's good indicator of what is to come."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Court of Appeal remits charges against allegedly unlicensed taximan to District Court
Charges against a Co Wexford man running an allegedly unlicensed taxi service − brought following a covert National Transport Authority (NTA) operation − will be remitted to the District Court following a Court of Appeal decision. In August 2022, an NTA enforcement officer – with assistance from An Garda Síochána – carried out a 'covert test purchase', posing as a passenger when availing of the man's allegedly unlawful taxi service. The man drove the NTA officer to a destination, before the latter identified himself. He recovered the money he'd used to pay his fare to keep as potential evidence. Charges were subsequently brought against the allegedly unlicensed taxi driver in the District Court. READ MORE These charges were dropped when a judge concluded that the NTA officer was, under the Taxi Regulation Act 2013, empowered only to take enforcement action against licensed operators – not unlicensed operators. The NTA officer accepted during the District Court trial that provisions for carrying out a test purchase or 'setting a trap' were not set out under legislation. The High Court upheld the District Court's decision following an appeal brought by the NTA. This was appealed to the Court of Appeal. In a judgment, Ms Justice Nuala Butler, on behalf of the three-judgment Court of Appeal, said a core issue in the case was the extent to which an investigator – ie, the NTA officer – could take steps in the course of their duties which did not have an explicit basis in law. In the Court of Appeal proceedings, the allegedly unlicensed taxi driver accepted that an enforcement officer may take steps in an investigation that are not explicitly set out in legislation, provided it does not go beyond what an ordinary person could do without legal powers. However, he maintained the District Court judge had been right to dismiss the charges against him, arguing that in conducting the covert test purchase, the investigator presented himself as exercising a power under law which he did not have. Ms Justice Butler noted that no statutory power is required by an investigator to do something an ordinary member of the public can do. 'If a member of the public is lawfully entitled to do something, then a person appointed under statute for a particular purpose is also entitled to do that thing unless in doing so he breaches a personal right of an affected person including a suspect in a criminal investigation,' she said. The judge said it was incorrect that a member of the public could not have carried out a covert test purchase. She said it was incorrect to assume that a covert test purchase could not be made by an investigator without expressed provision in law to do so. Ms Justice Butler concluded that the High Court was incorrect in upholding the District Court's decision to dismiss the charges against the allegedly unlicensed taxi driver. She said the NTA's appeal should be upheld, and the case be remitted back to the District Court.
Sunday World
a day ago
- Sunday World
Three arrested after €400k worth of damage is caused to Castletown House in Co Kildare
They were arrested by gardai attached to the Crime Hub in Kildare North following a search operation carried out this morning Three males have been arrested following €400,000 worth of damage to Castletown House in Celbridge, Co. Kildare. They were arrested by gardai attached to the Crime Hub in Kildare North following a search operation carried out this morning. The damage was caused to a property during a number of separate incidents between April 22 and May 4 of this year. One adult in his 30s, and two juveniles are currently being detained at Garda stations in Kildare as investigations are ongoing. . News in 90 Seconds - June 20th 'Gardaí attached to the Crime Hub, Kildare North have arrested three individuals this morning Friday, June 20 following a search operation that took place at a number of residential properties in Kildare,' a spokesperson for An Garda Síochána said. 'The three arrests relate to a number of separate incidents of criminal damage that was caused to property between the dates of April 22 to May 4. 'The estimated cost of the damage is believed to be in the region of €400,000. 'The three males, one adult male aged in his 30s and two juveniles, are currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 at Garda stations in the Kildare Division.'
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- RTÉ News
'Life changing injuries' - Staff fears over safety after Oberstown incidents
A staff member has been left with "life changing injuries" following a number of violent attacks on workers at a children's detention centre in Dublin. A total of ten staff at Oberstown Children Detention Campus have sustained injuries across three violent incidents since 8 June. The most recent took place on Wednesday in which nine staff members were injured, four of whom required hospital treatment, and are now expected to be out of work for a month or more. There was also one "very serious incident" on 11 June where a staff member "had their face slashed", trade union Fórsa said. It said that during an attempt to move a young person, a residential social care worker sustained a deep facial injury. Fórsa said no additional protective measures or staffing supports had been put in place by Oberstown management, despite previous violent incidents. Fórsa Media Relations Director Niall Shanahan said the situation at Oberstown is becoming "more critical" due to staff shortages and staff retention issues. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Shanahan said staff have tried to raise the issue of assaults on workers over the last number of years. "Staff have told me that quite frequently they don't have enough staff to cover the shift so they're operating below capacity," he said. Mr Shanahan also pointed to the "difficulty" of staff retention, saying that of the ten new staff that began work at Oberstown in this year, only two of them are still working on the campus. "We have staff who are trying to raise these issues with management at the Oberstown campus and we have a management group who appear unwilling, I think, to engage with the reality as staff are experiencing it," he said. Mr Shanahan said staff members, rather than management, are required to report incidents to gardaí, which he said suggests an "unwillingness" to take responsibility for what is happening to staff. He said the environment on campus is "becoming more and more unsafe" for both residents and staff. He said that Fórsa has contacted Oberstown management for an engagement, which he expects to take place in the next few days. "The longer this goes on and isn't addressed, the more unsafe everybody on the Oberstown campus is," he added. In a statement, the Department of Education said it offers its full support to any member of staff who has been injured during the course of their work. "As with all circumstances of this nature, these matters will be the subject of internal review. The Department does not comment on operational matters relating to Oberstown Children Detention Campus."
