Crumbling loyalties could lead to breakthroughs in many of the missing women cases, according to a senior garda who investigated them.

BE IT a sunny or a dark day, the Dublin mountains offer majestic views that are attractive to tourists and locals alike. But the old, winding roads that snake up from the suburbia of Tallaght and Rathfarnham can bring you very quickly into dense forest and desolate and dangerous locations.

The results of an autopsy carried out yesterday by Dr Michael Curtis, the deputy state pathologist, on the partial remains discovered near Killakee Mountain, indicate that the victim was more than likely female.

Gardai have renewed their appeal for information about a Dublin woman missing from her home for the past nine years.