Gardaí searching for Aoife Phelan find body in garden of Portlaoise house

A body has been found by gardai searching for missing pregnant nanny Aoife Phelan.

A body has been found by gardaí searching for missing pregnant nanny Aoife Phelan.

The remains were discovered in the garden of a house on Timahoe Road, in Portlaoise, Co Laois, a garda source confirmed.

Ms Phelan, 30, was last seen on Thursday October 25 after meeting a friend.

A 24-year-old man arrested over her murder was last night released without charge.

“A file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions,” a spokesman added.

Forensic experts using a mini-digger and shovels have been excavating ground at the rear of a house in Ms Phelan's home town.

Garda divers were also examining a river bed about 12 miles away amid fears her body had been thrown in to the River Barrow from the M7 on the Laois/Kildare border.

Ms Phelan, from Cashel in Ballyroan, Portlaoise, had met a friend at the Borris Road roundabout in the town at about 6.30pm on October 25 and was last seen at 8.10pm that night when she left a friend’s house on Colliers View.

She was four months pregnant and worked as a live-in nanny in Portlaoise.