William Maughan and partner were 'discarded like a bag of rubbish', says father

William Maughan and Anastasija Varslavane were reported missing in April 2015.

The father of murder victim William Maughan said a search for his son's remains has yielded nothing so far and William and his partner Ana were “discarded like a bag of rubbish”.

Willie Maughan, aged 34 and his pregnant partner, Ana Varslavane, aged 21, are believed to have been killed by one of the feuding gangs in Drogheda, Co Louth, on April 14, 2015.

Last week, gardaí launched a fresh search for their remains, on land close to the chief suspect’s former home in Gormanston, Co Meath.

Gang boss Cornelius Price, who has since died from brain cancer, and up to “10 members of his gang” are believed to have been involved in the double murder.

Willie’s father Joe Maughan told the Irish Examiner: “People know what happened and where the remains are”.

“I am 70 years of age, and you won’t meet a stronger person than me, I work all the time, I get on with it and I have hope, there is always hope” he said.

“I went to the field where the search is going on with the gardaí on Saturday with my wife Helen and my twins. There were many tears. But my wife too is a strong woman.

“I looked around and said they were discarded like a bag of rubbish. But we are a strong family. We are a working family, and I believe in God, I go to Mass every day.

“I pray all the time — I won’t go to sleep unless I say my prayers and I pray they will find Willie and Ana," Mr Maughan said.

“Nothing has come from the search, but it came about after someone gave information to the gardaí. They are not searching Price’s plot of land; they are searching around 100 yards away.

I don’t know where Willie and Ana lie, but some people do and at least 10 were involved and there is not a word out of any of them.

The fresh search by gardaí got under way on Friday and the Maughan family were informed. A piece of land in Balbriggan in north Co Dublin has been sealed off.

William Maughan and his girlfriend were living in a caravan in a compound owned by Cornelous Price at the time but wanted to return home to Tallaght in south Dublin.

The couple had been in Balbriggan on April 14 and got a taxi shortly after 2.30pm to Gormanston, where Mr Maughan’s mother was to collect them and their belongings.

“He rang his mother at around 2.30pm, asking her to come to Gormanston, but when she got there just after 3 o’clock there was no sign,” said Mr Maughan.

“He wanted out, he wanted to go, and he was killed.

Gardaí carried out extensive investigations and searches at the time and the case was upgraded to murder in 2016.

“It is a complete nightmare” said Mr Maughan. “I think of him begging for mercy. It was just such bad luck the whole thing.

“I have hope though that someone will tell us where they are, I have fierce faith in God. If I missed Mass on Sunday morning, I’d be there at 6pm that evening.

“We attend the missing persons event every year, my wife spoke well at it one year and like all the other families with missing relatives, we just want to know where they are so we can lay them to rest.

We know who’s behind it, but we just have to prove it, and we can’t understand how people can do this to one another.

“These searches are important, and we know searches are going on for Jo Jo Dullard too, it’s important that these cases are kept alive, and they keep looking”.

Seven people have been arrested so far in connection with the case and the latest search is being carried out by the Garda investigation team supported by the Meath divisional search team and the Garda Technical Bureau.

Gardaí said: “The area of land will be searched and subject to excavation, technical and forensic examinations over the coming days.

“Gardaí continue to appeal to anyone with information in relation to the disappearance and murder of William Maughan and Anna Varslavane to speak with investigating gardaí.