Gardaí dig at Wicklow quarry in search linked to Deirdre Jacob and Jo Jo Dullard murders

A Garda forensic photographer takes pictures at the scene of the searc. Picture: : Niall Carson/PA Wire

An excavator is removing large amounts of soil at an old quarry in Co Wicklow as a Garda search operation in relation to one of two murdered women continues for a second day.

Gardaí are looking for evidence, including potentially human remains, in connection with the disappearance and murder of either Deirdre Jacob or Jo Jo Dullard in the 1990s.

Officers cordoned off a site, located between Dunlavin and Baltinglass, both in Co Wicklow, on foot of information that materials in connection with a missing woman may be buried at specified sand pit.

Gardaí are not connecting the murders of the two women, but say the search is in relation to one of them, but don’t know which one it might be.

Separate information in relation to this site is thought to have been provided some 10 years ago, but no search has been carried out on it until now. That information claimed that Larry Murphy, a convicted rapist and key suspect for the murder of Ms Jacob, used to go to the sand pit and that he may have buried vehicles there.

Murphy, who was living in Baltinglass at the time, travelled a lot around Wicklow and Kildare working as a carpenter.

Ms Jacob, aged 18, disappeared near the front gates of her parents’ home in Roseberry, Newbridge, Co Kildare on the afternoon of July 28 1998, some 25km away from Dunlavin.

Jo Jo Dullard (left) and Deirdre Jacob.

Murphy was released from jail in 2010, after he served 10 years for the kidnapping, rape and attempted murder of a woman in the Wicklow mountains in 2001. Only for he was disturbed during the attack, gardaí suspect Murphy would have killed the woman and buried her remains.

He moved to England after his release.

Gardaí travelled to England in 2018 where, in the company of the London Metropolitan police, attempted to interview Murphy, but he refused to answer questions.

Officers submitted a file to the DPP in relation to Murphy, but the State prosecutor came back in 2022 and directed against charges. This came as a disappointment to investigating gardaí at the time, who believed they had sufficient evidence.

The latest information was received, from an anonymous source, by the Garda Serious Crime Review Team (SCRT), which is leading the investigation into the disappearance and murder of Ms Dullard and assisting Kildare detectives in their investigation into Ms Jacob.

In assessing the information, the SCRT brought in the Kildare Division into the search operation.

A search for Ms Dullard, aged 21, was conducted in Ballyhook, Grangecon, Co Wicklow, in November 2024, which is only a few kilometres away from the current search.

A man - not Larry Murphy - who was previously considered a key suspect in Ms Dullard’s case, was arrested at that time, but no charges were brought.

The sand pit is also near the route Ms Dullard took, down the R448, when she hitched a lift between Kilcullen and Moone in Co Kildare on the night of November 9 1995.

Ms Dullard hitched as she tried to make her way home to Callan, Co Kilkenny. Her last known stop was Moone, where she rang a friend from a phone box.