Murder victim’s father pleas for help

THE father of Clare woman Emer O’Loughlin has said that “someone, somewhere, must know where John Griffin is living.”

After Crimestoppers offered a reward for information on the whereabouts of Griffin, aged 44, as part of the investigation into Ms O’Loughlin’s death, her father, Johnny said: “People just don’t disappear. If someone has information about this man, I would appeal to them that they contact Crimestoppers.”

He added: “I believe that there is someone out there who knows where John Griffin is.”

Tonight, gardaí will issue a fresh appeal through RTÉ’s Crimecall programme in the search for Mr Griffin as part of their investigation of the murder of 23-year-old Ms O’Loughlin in April 2005.

Griffin, formerly of Cardinal Cushing Road, Mervue, Galway, has been on Interpol’s “most wanted” list since last year. It is believed that he is somewhere in Britain or Europe.

Ms O’Loughlin, Ennistymon, Co Clare, a student at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, was found dead after a fire in a caravan at Ballybornagh, Tubber, Co Clare, on April 8, 2005. The initial postmortem did not indicate a cause of death, but gardaí treated it as “suspicious.”

Her body was exhumed in May 2010 and a following a postmortem, using advanced techniques in forensic pathology, the investigation was upgraded to a murder inquiry.

Griffin is 5ft 9 inches tall and of average build. He has blue eyes and a distinctive and prominent Celtic design tattoo on the Adam’s apple area of his neck.

Griffin was last seen on the Aran Islands on April 20, 2005.

He had left a pile of clothes neatly folded on the cliff edge at Dún Aonghusa to give the impression that he had died.

* Call Crimestoppers on 1800 250025.