New chief to probe how cold cases are handled

GARDA Commissioner Noel Conroy has placed unsolved crimes as a major priority in his last year in charge of the force.

Mr Conroy, due to step down in November, has appointed a senior officer to investigate the way the force reviews so-called “cold cases”.

These include unsolved murders and rapes, as well as notorious missing women cases.

Chief Superintendent Paul Hargadon has been appointed to the task. He will be attached to the National Support Services (NSS) in Garda Headquarters in Phoenix Park. The NSS directs the force’s various national units, which have responsibility for tackling organised and serious crime, drug trafficking, confiscating criminal assets, fraud and immigration.

Chief Supt Hargadon will report directly to the assistant commissioner in charge of the NSS.

A garda spokesman said that as well as policy formulation, Chief Supt Hargadon would be responsible for “implementation of ‘cold case’ reviews”.

The spokesman said Chief Supt Hargadon would examine how the force was dealing with cold cases.

“He has yet to take up the position, so it is early days, but generally he will look at how we review cold cases and what we do in this area,” said the spokesman.

He said the appointment was in line with a commitment in the Garda Policing Plan 2007. It is understood the officer will have a number of staff in the NSS to assist him.

Chief Supt Hargadon was appointed to the rank earlier this month. He served as superintendent in Ballinasloe, since his promotion to that rank in July 2005.

Before this he acted as a senior police adviser to Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty when he was in charge of policing in Bosnian.

Top of the list of unsolved cases are expected to be the sudden disappearances of six women in the 1990s. Jo Jo Dullard, Deirdre Jacob, Fiona Sinnott, Ciara Breen, Fiona Pender and Annie McCarrick all went missing in the 1990s and the disappearances have baffled gardaí despite intensive investigations. Only in the Fiona Sinnott case, has there been any noticeable progress.

“These cases are among the most unusual of the historical cases we have, as no bodies have been recovered in any of them,” said a senior garda source who has assisted in “cold cases”.

Chief Supt Hargadon and his staff will work closely with the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI), which is involved in detecting homicides and deaths involving rape. Detectives from the NBCI have also been involved in investigating the missing women cases.

US student Ms McCarrick, 26, went missing in the Wicklow Mountains in 1993. Ms Dullard, 20, disappeared from Co Kildare in 1995.

Ms Pender, 25, from Tullamore, Co Offaly, went missing in 1996. Ms Breen, 18, from Dundalk, Co Louth, disappeared in 1998.

Ms Sinnott, 19, from Lady’s Island, Co Wexford, went missing in 1998. Ms Jacob, 19, went missing from Newbridge, Co Kildare, in 1998.