The search for the remains of 43-year-old Charles Brooke Pickard, missing since his abduction by a number of masked, armed men in South Kerry a quarter of a century ago, is part of an investigation that was “very much live”, a press conference was told yesterday.

Gardaí and Crimestoppers have renewed their appeal for information on the abduction and disappearance of an Englishman 25 years ago.

Verdicts of suicide were returned in four of the seven inquests held at the coroner’s court in Killarney on Wednesday.

Around 500 people, including the heartbroken mother of the 11-month-old baby found dead in an apartment on Sunday, have attended a special Mass in Killarney’s St Mary’s Cathedral.

A student, found with cannabis plants and a weighing scales, claimed he was part of “a hobbyist cannabis culture” following a connoisseur’s blogs.

A Garda swoop on foot of a warrant on a property near Bandon has recovered family pets, including purebred dogs and vulnerable puppies, taken from a pet farm near Killarney at the weekend.