Ireland

Gardai carry out searches for body of bank worker who disappeared 17 years ago

Detailed searches continue in Chapelizod, Dublin yesterday for the remains of Kildare man Trevor Deely who went missing following a Christmas party 17 years ago Picture: Niall Carson/PA
Detailed searches continue in Chapelizod, Dublin yesterday for the remains of Kildare man Trevor Deely who went missing following a Christmas party 17 years ago Picture: Niall Carson/PA Detailed searches continue in Chapelizod, Dublin yesterday for the remains of Kildare man Trevor Deely who went missing following a Christmas party 17 years ago Picture: Niall Carson/PA

Detailed searches were yesterday being carried out on cleared woodland for the body of missing bank worker Trevor Deely.

The 22-year-old vanished in south Dublin after calling to his office in the then Bank of Ireland Asset Management building on Wilton Terrace in the early hours of December 8, 2000, following a work Christmas party.

On Saturday gardai confirmed the search site off the Old Lucan Road in Chapelizod in the west of the city – several miles from where Mr Deely was last seen on CCTV.

A large digger and industrial waste bins were on the land after initial clearance and geophysical analysis took place.

The three acre patch of overgrown scrubland and woodland, surrounded by eight feet high walls, remained cordoned off. Gates at one entrance have been covered with black plastic sheets and a fence is being erected inside the search site.

CCTV cameras have also been installed around the perimeter.

A €100,000 reward was offered earlier this year for information that could solve the case.

The renewed public appeal coincided with cold case detectives revealing that enhanced CCTV footage had been secured showing a man in black clothing acting suspiciously at the rear entrance to Mr Deely's office block between 3am and 3.34am on December 8, 2000, just before Mr Deely arrived.

It shows the man dressed in black step out onto the footpath outside the offices on Wilton Terrace, a short distance from Baggot Street bridge, at 3.34am.

Moments later, Mr Deely can be seen arriving at the rear gates of the bank offices followed by the man and the two of them have a brief conversation.

The man is later seen walking in the same direction as Mr Deely a few seconds after he passes a Bank of Ireland ATM machine on Haddington Road at approximately 4.14am.

Gardai discovered an old VHS recording which was digitally enhanced by experts in the UK.