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Irish Times
17 hours ago
- Irish Times
House search in Annie McCarrick murder investigation continues
The search for the remains of murdered Annie McCarrick , who disappeared in south Dublin in 1993, has continued into a second week. Gardaí are determined to definitively rule out a Dublin property as a possible burial site. The dig operation is taking place on the grounds of a house in Clondalkin that was previously linked to the suspect. It has involved significant excavation work to the rear of the property. The house has been renovated and extended since it was purchased about 15 years ago by its current owners, who have no connection to the case. Gardaí have used mini diggers, Kango hammers and other machinery to excavate a section that has been built on in the period since Ms McCarrick disappeared. READ MORE Gardaí are acting on a tip-off that something related to the case - either Ms McCarrick's remains or other evidence - may have been buried there in the 1990s. Ms McCarrick, who was from New York, was 26 when she went missing and had been living in Sandymount, south Dublin. A cadaver dog, believed to be the same animal that found Tina Satchwell's remains buried under her home in Youghal, Co Cork, in 2023, has been used to check the site in the event Ms McCarrick's body was there. The people who currently own the home have moved out pending the completion of the search. The Irish Times has made efforts to contact the chief suspect for Ms McCarrick's murder since his release, without charge , from Garda custody last Friday. However, nobody appeared to be at his home in the east of the country on Thursday and calls also went unanswered. A wealthy businessman in his 60s, he was arrested last Thursday morning on suspicion of Ms McCarrick's murder and his home was searched. It was the first arrest in the inquiry, which has continued for more than 32 years. The man was interviewed for the maximum 24 hours allowed under law and was then released from Irishtown Garda station in Dublin's south inner city, pending further investigations. The suspect denies any wrongdoing and, as he faces no charges, there are no restrictions on his movements and no requirement for him to surrender his passport. The man knew Ms McCarrick well from her time studying and working in Dublin and Kildare from the late 1980s into the 1990s. They were close at one point and he was spoken to, along with many others who knew Ms McCarrick, around the time she disappeared. She was seen by her flatmates in her rented accommodation at St Cathryn's Court, Sandymount, on the morning of March 26th, 1993. When she failed to show up for work over the following two days and did not keep a dinner date with friends the evening after her last confirmed sighting, they became concerned and reported her missing on March 28th. There were reported sightings of her on the day she disappeared. These were in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow and in Glencullen, Co Dublin. They have since been discounted. Gardaí believe Ms McCarrick was killed in south Dublin, or at least met her killer close to her home, and that she was murdered and her body disposed of by the time the alarm was raised. She was said to have told US-based friends that the man arrested last week was harassing her just before she disappeared and that he had struck her when he was drinking. Those concerns were passed on to gardaí in 1993, though Ms McCarrick's friends do not believe they were acted on.
BreakingNews.ie
2 days ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Sean McGovern changes legal team in challenge to extradition on murder and criminal organisation charges
Sean McGovern, who has challenged the legality of his extradition from the United Arab Emirates to face charges of murder and directing a criminal organisation, has made an application to change his legal team. At the Special Criminal Court on Wednesday, legal representatives for McGovern said that Michael Staines solicitors wished to withdraw from the case, with the accused to now be represented by Wayne Kenny solicitors. Advertisement Via video link from prison, McGovern confirmed that he was happy with this application, with Ms Justice Karen O'Connor putting the matter back for mention to July 28th next. The accused is to be produced in court on that date. McGovern (39), with a previous address at Kildare Road, Crumlin, Dublin 12 is charged with the murder of Noel Kirwan on December 22nd, 2016, at St Ronan's Drive, Clondalkin in Dublin. He is also charged with directing the activities of a criminal organisation in connection with the same murder between October 20th, 2016, and December 22nd, 2016. He is charged with directing the activities of a criminal organisation in connection with the surveillance of James Gately in preparation for the commission of an indictable offence between October 17th, 2015, and April 6th, 2017. Advertisement Another charge alleges that between October 20th and December 22nd, 2016, he contributed to or participated in activity intending or being reckless as to whether such activity would facilitate a criminal organisation in the murder of Mr Kirwan. He faces a similar charge of facilitating a criminal organisation in a conspiracy to murder James Gately. He was previously extradited from the United Arab Emirates to face the charges, but in June, lawyers for McGovern raised a concern about the legality of his extradition to Ireland. Olan Callanan BL said: "The fundamental concern is the legality, the propriety and the process which surrounded his arrival in Dublin."
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Irish Times
Kinahan cartel member Sean McGovern changes legal team
Sean McGovern, who has challenged the legality of his extradition from the United Arab Emirates to face charges of murder and directing a criminal organisation, has made an application to change his legal team. At the Special Criminal Court on Wednesday, legal representatives for McGovern said that Michael Staines solicitors wished to withdraw from the case, with the accused to now be represented by Wayne Kenny solicitors. Via video link from prison, McGovern confirmed that he was happy with this application, with Ms Justice Karen O'Connor putting the matter back for mention to July 28th next. The accused is to be produced in court on that date. McGovern (39), with a previous address at Kildare Road, Crumlin, Dublin 12 is charged with the murder of Noel Kirwan on December 22nd, 2016 at St Ronan's Drive, Clondalkin in Dublin. READ MORE He is also charged with directing the activities of a criminal organisation in connection with the same murder between October 20th 2016 and December 22nd, 2016. He is charged with directing the activities of a criminal organisation in connection with the surveillance of James Gately in preparation for the commission of an indictable offence between October 17th, 2015 and April 6th, 2017. Another charge alleges that between October 20th and December 22nd, 2016 he contributed to or participated in activity intending or being reckless as to whether such activity would facilitate a criminal organisation in the murder of Mr Kirwan. He faces a similar charge of facilitating a criminal organisation in a conspiracy to murder James Gately. He was previously extradited from the United Arab Emirates to face the charges, but in June, lawyers for McGovern raised a concern about the legality of his extradition to Ireland. Olan Callanan BL said: 'The fundamental concern is the legality, the propriety and the process which surrounded his arrival in Dublin.'
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Irish Times
‘We we're full of hope': Aunt of Annie McCarrick says family disappointed after murder suspect released
Annie McCarrick's mother Nancy is used to waiting. She has been waiting for 32 years to find out where her only daughter's remains may be buried. When she received a 3am phone call on Thursday from the Garda team investigating her daughter's murder, it brought a new level of emotional intensity to the family's wait for answers. A man who knew Annie McCarrick had been arrested on suspicion of her murder . Fortunately, Nancy McCarrick's younger sister, Maureen Covell, was staying with her when the gardaí called. She has supported Ms McCarrick since 1993. READ MORE Annie McCarrick was nine years younger than Ms Covell, who is now 67. Both women were like best friends and spent lots of time together. From early on Thursday morning until the suspect was released without charge on Friday afternoon, an extended Irish-American family living in the Long Island area of New York had their fingers crossed. After all, this was the first arrest in a case whose narrative has changed completely since a new team of Garda investigators were appointed. 'Naturally, we were full of hope,' said Ms Covell. 'At last, it seemed there would be answers. There have been so many attempts over the decades to solve this case but there had never been any conclusive or definitive answers.' It was a case of disappointment once again for the family on Friday, as the man was released without charge . A search and excavation at a house in Clondalkin, Dublin, which was linked to him, is ongoing. Speaking to The Irish Times from her home in Long Island, Ms Covell said: 'All of us are quite disappointed as we were hopeful that some results would come of this arrest and interrogation. It is important to say that we haven't given up all hope as it seems the gardaí are getting close. We cautiously look forward to hearing if there are any findings with regards to the excavation. 'We appreciate the continued efforts of the gardaí as they follow some very recent leads.' She added that the family continues to hope for 'closure and answers along with a possible conviction to this 32-year- old nightmare'. Ms Covell said the family had been left deeply frustrated by elements of the original Garda team's approach to the investigation. 'Unlike my dear sister, who has remained so graceful and stoic throughout this ordeal, I still find it very frustrating that all the faxes our family and friends sent to the gardaí after Annie's disappearance about significant issues in her personal life were ignored at the time,' she said.
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Irish Times
Search for remains of Annie McCarrick set to continue after main suspect released without charge
The search for the remains of Annie McCarrick at a house in Dublin was due to continue through the weekend after the man questioned on suspicion of her murder was released from Garda custody without charge on Friday afternoon. The businessman, aged in his 60s, who knew Ms McCarrick well, was interviewed for a total of 24 hours in the period since his arrest on Thursday morning when his home in the east of the country was also searched. He denies any wrongdoing in relation to the disappearance of New Yorker Ms McCarrick (26) from Sandymount, South Dublin, in March, 1993, or her murder. Annie McCarrick, who went missing in 1993. Photograph: An Garda Siochana/PA Wire 'The male aged in his 60s who was arrested on the morning of 12th June, 2025, and detained under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 has been released without charge,' the Garda confirmed in a statement. READ MORE On being released from Irishtown Garda station at about 3pm he was met by waiting photographers and TV camera crews before being driven away. Gardaí on Friday afternoon brought a cadaver dog into the search at the house in Clondalkin in the event the dog may respond when checking the rear of the property where excavation had taken place. The Garda search team used diggers, a consaw and a Kango hammer to excavate in an area that includes some built structures. Gardaí remove a skip at a house in Clondalkin, west Dublin. Photograph: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin Gardaí bring a cadaver dog into a house being searched in connection with the murder of Annie McCarrick. Photograph: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin Before the search began on Thursday morning, skips with construction waste were seen outside the house as renovation work was under way. However, The Irish Times has established that nothing connected to Ms McCarrick was found during the recent work at the house to prompt the Garda excavation. Instead, the search and excavation, and the arrest of the main suspect, were pre-planned on the part of the Garda investigation team. The house was being searched because the suspect was linked to it. . The current owners of the property, who bought it in 2011, have no connection to the murdered woman or the Garda investigation. The suspect was arrested by detectives from the Garda's Dublin south-central division's serious crime unit based at Irishtown Garda station. He knew Ms McCarrick and was at one time very close to her. [ Annie McCarrick: Cold case murder detectives must overcome poor investigations of 1990s Opens in new window ] He was flagged to gardaí as a possible suspect in the case in the immediate aftermath of the New Yorker's disappearance. Friends of Ms McCarrick were concerned about the man as she had told them she felt pressured and harassed by him and that he had struck her on one occasion. Ms McCarrick's friends outlined those concerns in fax messages to the Garda investigation team. They have always believed the information they supplied was not properly handled and was not factored into the initial inquiry in any meaningful way. However, in recent years – particularly since the case was upgraded from a missing persons inquiry to a murder investigation two years ago – the man arrested and since released became the key suspect. Gardaí are also very interested in a close associate of his and travelled abroad earlier this year to interview him. Detectives believe the two men were together on the weekend Ms McCarrick vanished. Both men were interviewed in 1993 and have been spoken to several times in the years since then. In March 1993, Ms McCarrick, from Long Island, New York, was living in rented accommodation at St Cathryn's Court, Sandymount, with two friends. They last spoke to her at the property on the morning of Friday, March 26th. Amid mounting concerns for her safety, Ms McCarrick was reported missing to gardaí that Sunday, more than 48 hours after her last confirmed sighting.
