Man expected to be charged in Sinnott case

GARDAÍ are expected to recommend that charges be brought against a man for the murder of missing woman Fiona Sinnott.

Detectives are understood to have made significant progress during questioning of the chief suspect yesterday.

Officers have accumulated substantial evidence against the man and are expected to recommend to the Director of Public Prosecutions he be charged in connection with Ms Sinnott’s death. Gardaí have upgraded the case to a murder investigation.

Ms Sinnott, a 19-year-old mother-of-one, disappeared suspiciously in February 1998 from south Wexford.

Gardaí swooped on the main suspect, who is in his 30s, at his home in Wexford at 7.45am and brought him to New Ross Garda Station. He was released without charge last night and a file is expected to be prepared for the DPP.

His arrest brought to six the number of people in the rural area to be detained in recent days in relation to the crime. They are the first arrests in the case. Two of them, the chief suspect’s former girlfriend and a male friend, both in their 30s, were released by Thursday.

The other people arrested include the chief suspect’s sister, in her 30s, and mother, in her 50s, and the sister’s husband, also in his 30s. They are suspected of having knowledge of how the main suspect disposed of the body. They had to be released or charged by midnight last night.

The chief suspect was the first person to be detained under section four of the Criminal Justice Act in relation to the crime. The other five were held under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act on suspicion of withholding information.

The chief suspect, who was known to Ms Sinnott, is thought of having previously assaulted her.

The family said they were more confident of finding Ms Sinnott’s body.