Investigation to find missing women not closed, insist gardaí

GARDAÍ have dismissed reports that Operation Trace, established to investigate the disappearance of six women, has been abandoned.

Families of some of the women reacted angrily to reports that Operation Trace had been called off, despite yielding no results.

However speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland programme, Garda Superintendent Kevin Donohue insisted the investigation was still live.

“Operation Trace still exists in a form under the direct control of a Detective Superintendent at the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and I suppose with any investigation like Fiona Pender’s, one is similar to the other,” he said.

“The dynamics of any investigation the level of activity varies from time to time, it kind of ebbs and flows if you like but certainly all of these cases remain open and certainly any information that comes to us that requires action to be taken is being taken.

“Recently we had some action in one or two of those cases so they are very much open investigations.”

Operation Trace was launched in 1999 to investigate the disappearance of six women in Leinster over a six year period.

Yesterday relatives of one of the women, Fiona Pender, issued a fresh appeal for anyone with information on her whereabouts to come forward.

Fiona Pender disappeared in 1996; she was 25 and seven months pregnant.

Fiona’s younger brother John says his family have not given up hope of finding her remains.

Gardaí have been criticised for lack of progress.

Yesterday the sister of JoJo Dullard, who disappeared 11 years ago, said she was giving up hope that the killer or body would ever be found. Mary Phelan said that the last time her family had contact with Operation Trace was in 1998 when two female officers called to the house.