Gardaí seek murder clues on CCTV

DETECTIVES investigating the murder of a young man will trawl through CCTV footage in the hope that those who dumped the body were captured on camera.

The torso and limbs of the so-far-unidentified man, who is black and aged between 20 and 30, were discovered in the Royal Canal last week. The head has not yet been found despite an extensive search by members of the Garda Water Unit.

An incident room at Fitzgibbon Street fielded a number of calls over the weekend from members of the immigrant community making missing persons reports. These are being checked out.

A database holding the fingerprints of asylum seekers is being checked to see if any match prints taken from the body. Copies of the prints have been sent to police forces across Europe.

However, there is a possibility no match will be thrown up. The murdered man may have entered Ireland before the database came into operation in 2001, he may have entered the country illegally, be a citizen of an EU country or was studying here.

A core team of 35, based in Fitzgibbon Street, is leading the investigation, described as difficult but challenging by one detective.

The alarm was raised around 7.30pm last Wednesday when a man walking along the canal at Summerhill near Croke Park spotted what he thought was a human leg in the water. He then discovered the torso wrapped in an Ireland away shirt.

Seven separate body parts were found during searches of the canal by the Garda Water Unit. The parts may have been in the water for up to two weeks.

The investigation team are following up a number of leads.

The CCTV footage from cameras positioned in various parts of the north inner city is being checked.

A number of persons have been reported missing on the back of appeals made since last Thursday. These individuals are likely only to have been reported missing because of the murder, detectives believe.

Landlords have been asked to check whether tenants have been missing from their accommodation.