Long time reader, first time poster! I hope I get everything right, but just let me know if there's anything I need to fix! This disappearance in particular resonates with me as I lived in Newbridge - my boyfriend's hometown - in 2013/2014, and the missing posters were still up.

Location: Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland
Date: July 28th, 1998

Dierdre Jacob was 18 when she disappeared. She was home for the holidays from university in London, and had spent the afternoon running errands on Newbridge's high street. She visited a bank, then the post office, and called in to her grandmother's small newsagent directly across the road, before she walked home.

She almost made it home. The last sighting of her was outside her parents house. She never made it to the front door, and she hasn't been seen since.

Two months after she disappeared, Garda (the Irish police force) linked her disappearance with that of five other women over the five previous years, and set up Operation Trace to review these cases. They were;
* Annie McCarrick, 26, on March 26th 1993. Annie was an Irish American who was studying in Dublin. She took a trip to the Wicklow mountains, a short distance from Dublin, and has not been seen since.
* Jojo Dullard, 21, on November 9th 1995. She was using a public phone box in Moone, Co. Kildare, and was talking to her best friend when she said a lift had arrived and abruptly hung up.
* Fiona Pender, 25, on August 23rd 1996. Fiona was seven and a half months pregnant when she disappeared.
* Ciara Breen, 17, on February 17th 1997. She sneaked out of her house to meet someone, and never returned.
* Fiona Sinnott, 19, between February 9th and 18th 1998. The single mother let the father of her child stay the night after they spent an evening with friends, and he was collected by his mother the next morning. No one saw her alive again.

Larry Murphy.

Murphy was born on February 7th 1966, and lived in Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow. He was a carpenter by trade, travelling between counties Wicklow, Dublin, Kildare and Laois for his work.

In 1999, after the death of Dierdre Jacob's grandmother, the family were sorting through her belongings when they discovered a pay stub for Larry Murphy. He had been contracted to carry out some carpentry work in her grandmother's shop around the time when she disappeared.

Attempted Murder.

On February 11th 2000, an unnamed woman was walking to her car when she was accosted by a man who demanded money from her. When she refused, he punched her, breaking her nose. He made her remove her bra, which he used to bind her hands. Then, he loaded her into the boot (trunk) of his car, turned the stereo up to drown out her screams, and drove away.

He stopped after 12km, moved her to the front of the car, and raped her. When he was finished, he bound her hands once more. In an attempt to calm her down, he told her his name was Michael, that he was from Baltinglass in County Wicklow, but worked in Dublin. He told her he was married and had children. He promised he would release her.

Instead, he drove another 25km to a remote forest in Wicklow, dragged her deep into the trees, and raped her three further times - orally, anally and vaginally. He covered her head with a plastic bag and tried to strangle her as he shoved her back into the boot of the car, but she fought back, even as he slammed the open boot on her legs.

And then there were headlights.

They belonged to a car driven by a pair of deer hunters. As her attacker was stunned for a moment, she broke free and stumbled towards them, catching herself on barbed wire. The rapist ran to the drivers side, hopped into the car, and sped away - but the hunters had recognised him. Note: I could understand anyone being incredulous of this sheer coincidence, that they could have recognised the offender. However, Ireland is a unique and wonderful place, and having spent a reasonable amount of time there during my life, I do not find this to be far fetched at all, particularly in someone's hometown. Outside of Dublin, Ireland is like one big small town.

They took the woman to the closest Garda station - Baltinglass. The next morning, Gardai officers visited the home of Larry Murphy. Though he initially claimed his innocence to his wife, he eventually pled guilty in court, and was sentenced to 15 years for the rape and attempted murder of the woman.

During his questioning, he made comments like "well, she's alive isn't she?" and stated that "she was lucky". He has never showed any signs of remorse or guilt. He has been questioned in relation to the other disappearances, but has never provided any information. He has been acknowledged as a suspect by Gardai.

No one has disappeared since he has been imprisoned.

He was released on August 12th 2010.

His release caused outrage in Ireland. Afraid of vigilantism, he initially fled to Spain, but his location was publicised in the Irish press, and he moved again to Amsterdam. Once again, footage of him going about his daily life was published, and he moved back to Spain via France. He was known to be working as a carpenter in London in 2015.

Sources. Murphy connected to Jacob family shop
Disappearance of Fiona Sinnott
Larry Murphy on Wikipedia
Ireland's Vanishing Triangle on Wikipedia
A general summary of the disappearances
A map of Irish counties - just for your information!

Discussion Points * Do you think it possible that Larry Murphy is involved in any of these unresolved disappearances?

In my opinion, Fiona Sinnott is completely unrelated - there have even been arrests in this case, but no charges. Someone believed locally to have knowledge of where her remains are died from a drug overdose in 2001. He had allegedly suggested that he was one of three people with specific knowledge of what had happened, and was in fear of his life should he provide any of this information to Gardai.

I also believe Ciara Breen is unrelated. She had a much older boyfriend who has been arrested but released without charge.

Some lists include several more disappearances as potentially being connected - Eva Brennan, 40, who disappeared in 1993, and Imelda Keenan, 22, who vanished in 1994. These were not (to my knowledge) included in the cases linked by the TRACE unit set up to investigate the six disappearances I've discussed.

I do believe that Larry Murphy is responsible for Annie McCarrick and Dierdre Jacob at the very least, and I would think it unlikely that his first offence was a murder.

I'd love to know your thoughts and theories! I find it terrifying that he is free to roam the streets - even if he has been convicted of the only crimes he has ever committed. He was sentenced before the Sex Offenders Act was introduced in Ireland, so he doesn't have any conditions on his release.