Updated at 2.40pm
GARDAÍ ARE CARRYING out a search for missing Trevor Deely in Chapelizod in Dublin today.
Trevor went missing after attending a Christmas party on 8 December 2000, and was last spotted on CCTV footage which showed him crossing Baggot Street Bridge and walking towards Haddington Road in the city centre.
A cold-case review was begun by gardaí in December, which included swathes of evidence being gathered and witnesses re-interviewed.
A fresh appeal was issued in April, with gardaí releasing digitally enhanced VHS footage taken on the night of Trevor’s disappearance.
Gardaí have today begun a search at a site in Chapelizod. The three-acre woodland site is owned by South Dublin County Council and is situated behind the R112 road.
Gardaí began the search this morning. A large area of the woodland has been cleared with a team of gardaí searching the area. The area runs down by the River Liffey and has been closed off to the public.
New information
Detective Inspector Paul Costello said that gardaí had begun the search as a result of new information they obtained. He said that this information was not related to the appeal in April.
Costello told reporters today that he could not discuss the nature of the information which led gardaí to the search in Chapelizod.
“We’re at the very early stages of the search,” he said. “As it develops we’ll keep an open mind about what we find and don’t find.”
Costello said he believed that this was the most significant search operation to be carried out since the disappearance of Deely.
Footage
The enhanced VHS footage released in April was taken from outside Trevor’s office at Bank of Ireland Asset Management on Leeson Street shows him talking to a man, who had been standing at the building for around a half an hour beforehand.
Trevor leaves the office around 4am, when someone – possibly the same man – follows him. He was last seen at 4.14am walking under an umbrella. He spoke by phone with a friend, telling them what a good night he had.
He has not been seen since.
Speaking today, Costello said gardaí had not identified the man in question to date, and appealed for anyone with information to come forward.
“We believe there are still people out there who have information that we need and we’d appreciate contact,” he said.
The Deely family have been informed of the search.
Any person who has information about Trevor’s disappearance can contact Crimestoppers on 1800 25 00 25.
With reporting from Cormac Fitzgerald.
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