A FORMER undercover British soldier, who has since become a Catholic priest, has appealed to the IRA to say where murder victim Captain Robert Nairac is buried.
Nairac was abducted from a pub car park in Dromintee, south Armagh, in May 1977 and later murdered in Ravensdale, Co Louth.
He is among the Disappeared who were abducted, murdered and secretly buried by republicans during the Troubles.
His former colleague, Fr William Burke, told RTÉ's Prime Time programme last night that Nairac's family want him to have a proper burial.
"Please may we have him back, may we have his remains for a Catholic funeral Mass. For his family and his friends," he said.
Fr Burke, who operated undercover in west Belfast in the 1970s, said he left the British Army and became a priest following Nairac’s murder.
Geoff Knupfer, from the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains, said he was hopeful Nairac's body could be found.
He dismissed claims about Nairac's involvement in certain killings as "wild allegations" and said he feared the claims had stopped people from coming forward with information.
Leo Green, a brother of IRA member John Francis Green who was shot dead by the UVF in Co Monaghan in 1975, believes that Nairac was involved in the killing.
But he said the soldier's body should be returned.
"The Nairac family entitlement to truth and Robert Nairac's entitlement to a proper burial, his siblings' entitlement to give him that proper burial, it's up there with all the questions that IRA members' families have," he said.
