Human body parts found in two locations are those of missing teenager, gardaí suspect

Remains in burned-out car in Drumcondra may be linked to previous discovery of limbs

 

Gardaí suspect body parts found in a burning car in Drumcondra, north Dublin and further remains previously discovered in Darndale, also north Dublin, can be linked to a missing teenager.

The last confirmed sighting of the 17-year-old missing from Drogheda, Co Louth was on Sunday. When family and friends unable to contact him over the following 24 hours they became very concerned.

Human remains were discovered in a vehicle in Drumcondra, north Dublin on Wednesday morning. The remains were found after a fire was extinguished in the car in the early hours.

The emergency services had been called to a location at Trinity Terrace off Clonliffe Road, near Croke Park, where a car was alight. 

Gardaí suspected the find may be linked to the discovery of limbs in a bag in Darndale on Monday night.

A forensic examination of the Drumcondra location is to take place, gardaí said, and the scene has been sealed off and preserved.

The remains will be tested for DNA matches to the limbs, which were found in a plastic bag on the side of a road in the Moatview housing estate in Darndale.

• Suspected human remains found in a bag in north Dublin
• Limbs found in bag in north Dublin could be missing teenager
• Locals ‘shocked’ at dumping of body parts in Darndale

Gardaí at the scene in Coolock on Tuesday morning where a bag containing human limbs was found. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Gardaí were searching for the rest of the body on Monday and one line of inquiry was that the remains are those of a 17-year-old junior member of a Drogheda drugs gang.

Gardaí suspect the remains found in the vehicle in Drumcondra could be the rest of the body.

The state pathologist and the Garda technical bureau will attend the scene this morning.

A member of the teenager’s family began posting on social media on Monday afternoon seeking information on his whereabouts. Within hours, limbs had been found in a bag in Darndale.

The missing teenager had links to one of two gangs that have been involved in a gun feud in Drogheda for just over 18 months.

A threat had been made against the teenager by a criminal gang led by a man who has been in dispute with one of the Drogheda gangs and also a gang from north Dublin.

Gardaí now suspect that the threat - to abduct, murder and dismember the teenager - has now effectively been carried out.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe - whose constituency the burning car was discovered in - defended the Government’s record on policing. He said he had experience in his constituency of “the cycle of terror and the cycle of fear organised crime can bring”. The Garda budget had been increased to an all-time high, he added.

Speaking on the same programme, Fianna Fáil’s director of elections Dara Calleary criticised the Government for reducing investment in urban renewal projects, and said gardaí fighting organised crime and gang feuds around the country had been hit by resource shortages.

Asked about Fianna Fáil’s role in bringing about austerity which led to programme cuts, he said “cuts were made but choices were also made as to the direction of those cuts”, and claimed his party’s participation in confidence and supply had led to increased money for services.

Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan said the areas most affected by violent crime are also the most deprived areas, and there was a need to concentrate resources in those areas. “Drugs are at the heart of this problem. People need to disown drugs and say that they are not prepared to accept that level of depravity in society.”