Gardai quiz Larry Murphy in UK over Deirdre Jacob disappearance

Gardai have travelled to the UK to quiz Larry Murphy over the disappearance of Deirdre Jacob.

Detectives probing the cold case have identified the “Beast of Baltinglass” as the chief suspect in her murder.

New witnesses have given statements placing Murphy in the area when Deirdre vanished.

It is understood they claimed the carpenter was working in Newbridge area on the day the teenager went missing.

A source told the Irish Daily Mirror: “Larry Murphy is living in the UK and gardai have travelled there to interview him.

“Police have been monitoring him but a critical part of progressing the investigation is to talk to the suspect.

“Larry Murphy’s intention is to never come back to Ireland – he is hiding in the UK where no one knows him and that’s where he wants to stay.

"He has a girlfriend there and is living a quiet life.”

Gardai spoke to Murphy and questioned him about Deirdre.

Sources told the Mirror that the Garda investigation is progressing but they currently do not have enough evidence to make an arrest.

Deirdre was 19 when she vanished from her home in Roseberry, Newbridge, Co Kildare, on July 28, 1998.

In August, Gardai upgraded her disappearance to a murder after the Force’s Serious Crime Review Team carried out a detailed examination of the investigation file.

Murphy was freed from jail in 2010 after serving 10 years for a brutal sex attack and attempted murder of a woman in the Wicklow mountains.