Hope in IRA victim search

TEN years after the IRA handed over a list of sites where gardaí would find the remains of the so-called “disappeared”, a new site — not on the original list — has been identified.

The new Louth site is believed to be the burial place of Gerry Evans, 24, from Crossmaglen, who abducted and murdered in 1979.

His unmarked grave is somewhere in bog land, off an isolated boreen, 6km from the border near Hackballscross.

Yesterday, a spokesperson for the Commission for the Location of Victims Remains said it hoped to begin its examination of the site “as soon as is practicable”.

When the IRA gave a list of locations of the disappeared in 1999 it also handed over the remains of Eamon Molloy in a coffin in a graveyard in north Louth.

Subsequent searches of those sites by teams of gardaí, and more recently by specialised forensic teams, uncovered only some of the burial places.

This new site is off the Cortial Road, 10km west of Dundalk and 13km from Crossmaglen.

Earlier this year the location was pointed out to a newspaper journalist by a man who said he was involved in the killing.

The spokesman for the commission said initial work on the site will be preparatory. “It needs to be drained… we would like to do it as soon as it practicable.”

He also appealed for anyone with information on the disappeared to call 0080 055585500.