Gardaí resume search for body of teen IRA victim

A SEARCH operation resumed yesterday for the remains of a teenager kidnapped and murdered by the IRA nearly 30 years ago.

Wed, 10 Sep, 2003 - 01:00

Chris Parkin

Police with mechanical diggers moved in yesterday on bog land in Co Monaghan in an attempt to find the body of Columba McVeigh, who was aged 17 when he was abducted by the IRA in 1975 for allegedly being a spy.

Mr McVeigh is classified as one of Northern Ireland's "disappeared" people who vanished after being held by the IRA over a period dating back three decades.

The latest bout of searching, which is likely to take the rest of the week to complete, marks the third attempt to locate the body of the youth.

Previous efforts, lasting a number of weeks in the same area in 1999 and 2000, ended in failure.

Last week the Dublin-based Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains was handed fresh information from the IRA via an intermediary about the spot where the teenager may have been buried. As a result, gardaí examined the bog and made a decision to resume digging.

Commission joint chairman John Wilson stressed caution about being over-optimistic.

Speaking at the scene, he said new information about the location of the youth's body had been received, pinpointing the two possible spots.

"The information indicated there is a possibility that we will find the body there. I hope it is accurate, and I hope it is specific." Mr Wilson said he hoped the reports were accurate for the sake of Mr McVeigh's elderly mother Vera, declaring: "Closure should be reached on this."

The new search for Mr McVeigh got under way 10 days after what are thought to be the remains of another of the disappeared, Belfast woman Jean McConville, were found, reportedly by accident, on Shelling Hill beach in Co Louth.

Earlier searches of another beach in the same area for Mrs McConville had proved fruitless.

Mrs McConville, a mother of 10, was abducted from her Belfast home by an IRA gang in 1972. She was accused of helping a British soldier who was fatally wounded during a gun battle with the IRA near Belfast's Divis Flats.