Updated, 11:09
HOMICIDE DETECTIVES in the Australian city of Melbourne have arrested a man in connection with the disappearance of Irish woman Jill Meagher.
The 41-year-old was arrested in the past few hours, and is assisting police with their inquiries. He was arrested in the suburb of Coburg, just north of Brunswick where Jill lived and where she was last seen.
Local media reports have suggested that the man being questioned is the man seen wearing a blue hoodie in CCTV footage released yesterday. In that footage he had been seen apparently in conversation with Jill.
The arrest comes hours after local media reports carried reports that a witness had told police he had seen the man in the blue hoodie running after Jill on the street.
The witness reportedly also saw a car performing a sharp U-turn while the man was chasing the 29-year-old Drogheda woman, who has not been seen or heard from since the early hours of Saturday morning.
Another man seen in the CCTV footage, however, told both the Herald Sun and The Age that he had noticed nothing unusual about the man in the hoodie – and had not seen Jill.
Dan Gregson, who described himself as an ‘avid people watcher’, said he had sat in a kebab shop watching people passing outside – but saw neither Jill, nor the man in the hoodie, at that time.
He commented that he had observed the area for about ten minutes, and would have noticed if Jill had passed – but had not spotted her.
Police would not comment on the witness reports – but have announced a significant increase in their manpower in the area to “connect with local residents” and hear concerns over their safety following the 29-year-old’s disappearance on Saturday morning.
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