GUILTY Ireland - Aoife Phelan, 30, Portlaoise, Co. Laois, 25 Oct 2012

[LegallyBrunette]

Hi all,

I'm a long-time reader of the forums, but never post!

Terrible that the investigation has taken this turn. Pieces in the media last week hinted that foul play was not suspected, as posted above - so I really thought they had evidence AP had left of her own free will.

Thoughts and prayers with the family.

I am about an hour from Portlaoise.

MOO.

(((Irishgirl))), failte! thank you for posting. I have been following this also in MSM and thought it concerning that family and friends organised their own searches as the official line was that foul play wasn't suspected. Despite her parents and siblings saying it was completely out of character for her, phone being switched off at 9pm the night she went missing, no activity on bank account, facebook etc.

 

[LegallyBrunette]

Motorway re-opened as hunt for Aoife Phelan winds down for the night
By Brian Hutton
Tuesday November 06 2012

SEARCHES for the body of murdered nanny Aoife Phelan were wound down this evening.
Detectives launched a major search at the side of the M7 motorway with forensic teams, Garda Water Unit divers and other officers painstakingly examining a wooded riverside area.

A large section of the main Dublin to Limerick route - one of the busiest roads in the country - was sealed off near Monasterevin, Co Kildare, and close to the Laois border, to allow investigators access a steep embankment leading to the location along the River Barrow.

Garda sources also confirmed a 4x4 vehicle seized as part of the inquiry was continuing to be technically examined with a number of personal possessions discovered in the vehicle.

A 24-year-old local man, believed to be known to the 30-year-old childminder and who was arrested yesterday afternoon in relation to her murder, remains in custody at Portlaoise Garda station.
He is being held under section four of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984, and can be questioned for up to 24 hours.
"We are at a very active stage in the investigation," said one source.

http://www.independent.ie/national-...hunt-for-aoife-phelan-winds-down-3285746.html

A garda search on the river Barrow is being wound down for the night as the investigation into the disappearance of Aoife Phelan continues.

Divers have spent over four hours searching the waterway under the M7 motorway and downstream from there, but nothing has been found so far.

The M7 was closed for a time as gardaí carried out a ground search between Monasterevin and Portlaoise but was later reopened.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1106/gardai-continue-to-question-man-over-missing-woman.html

 

[LegallyBrunette]

PREGNANT nanny Aoife Phelan was savagely beaten to death and her body was then thrown over a bridge into the river Barrow, gardai believe.

Officers think that the 30-year-old Portlaoise woman died shortly after she was last seen on October 25.

A search of a stretch of the Barrow river close to Monasterevin, on the Kildare-Laois border, will resume at first light in a bid to locate her body.

Officers questioned a 24-year-old man throughout the day yesterday as part of the murder inquiry. He was released without charge before midnight.

A file is being prepared for the DPP. Information built up by gardai indicates that Aoife was collected by her killer shortly after she had left a friend’s home in a Portlaoise housing estate 13 days ago.

She was subjected to a brutal physical assault and died from her injuries. Her killer then drove to a bridge over the Barrow and stopped his vehicle by the side of the M7 motorway.

Gardai believe from the information they have gathered that the body of the victim was then dropped from the bridge into the fast-flowing waters.

The search for her missing body switched dramatically to the Barrow yesterday morning and a large section of the motorway between the Ballybrittas and Monasterevin junctions was sealed off by gardai for two hours. The area is about 20km from Portlaoise.

Divers from the garda water unit repeatedly dredged the murky waters until fading light forced them to call off the search until this morning.
A boat was also used in the operation while a helicopter hovered overhead.

Officers confirmed last night that their main concentration was now on the river and the search for the body would be widened to cover a bigger stretch of the Barrow.

By Louise Hogan, Portlaoise
Wednesday November 07 2012
http://www.independent.ie/national-...n-was-beaten-and-thrown-in-river-3286148.html

 

[LegallyBrunette]

The plot thickens....


THE investigation into the murder of missing 30-year-old woman Aoife Phelan has been one of the most unconventional garda probes of recent times.

On the night she vanished, Aoife left the home where she worked as a nanny at 6.15pm to meet a friend by arrangement on the Borris Road. Although there were a number of sightings of her as she left Colliers View at 8.10pm on Thursday, October 25, there has been no trace of Aoife since.

By Sunday, October 27, gardai had started to carry out searches of various locations in Co Laois, but refused to say where.
These secret searches continued in the days afterwards with gardai advising Aoife's family not to conduct their own searches.

It later emerged that Aoife had been in a brief relationship with a local man who went abroad, with rumours suggesting that he was the father of the child that she was reportedly four months pregnant with.

Asked if the gardai had spoken to the father of Aoife's baby, Supt Yvonne Lundon replied: "We are investigating all avenues in relation to information that is forthcoming and we have conducted a number of inquiries with a wide range of people who have come forward to us."

After this, in 'off-the-record' briefings to a number of journalists, gardai stated that it was highly unlikely that Aoife was the victim of foul play and that the man who was arrested yesterday was not a suspect in the case.

Reporters were told by gardai that he had left Ireland days before Aoife disappeared despite the fact that friends of Aoife said he had left the country the day after the mystery disappearance.

Specialist units were drafted in and gardai declared publicly yesterday that they were now investigating a murder after the arrest of the 24-year-old chief suspect in the case who had returned to Co Laois from abroad.

Officers also seized the suspect's mobile phone and are checking his records to see if he was in contact with Aoife around the time of her disappearance.

His 4x4 SUV vehicle was seized by gardai and officers forensically searched a house on the Timahoe road with a particular focus on the attic.

- Ken Foy, Crime correspondent
Tuesday November 06 2012
http://www.herald.ie/news/secret-searches-that-led-to-a-breakthrough-in-aoife-riddle-3285461.html

 

[Spotlight]

Just heard on the 1 O'Clock news on RTE, that Gardaí have recovered a body in the area they were searching at Timahoe

 

[Spotlight]

GARDAI have recovered the body of murdered nanny Aoife Phelan in the garden of a house.

http://www.independent.ie/national-...ered-pregnant-nanny-aoife-phelan-3286148.html

 

[LegallyBrunette]

GARDAI have recovered the body of murdered nanny Aoife Phelan in the garden of a house.

http://www.independent.ie/national-...ered-pregnant-nanny-aoife-phelan-3286148.html

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam - May her soul be at the right hand of God

God, Mary and Patrick be with her Daddy and Mammy

 

[Joe Friday]

Body found in Co Laois search for missing woman

The find was made after a search at a house on the Timahoe Road outside Portlaoise.

State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy has completed a preliminary examination on the body at the scene and the remains have now been taken away for a post mortem at the Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore

Gardaí would not comment on the circumstances in which the woman's body was found shortly after 11am.

Read more including video at link: http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1107/laois-search.html

 

[TxLady2]

Body found in Co Laois search for missing woman

The find was made after a search at a house on the Timahoe Road outside Portlaoise.

State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy has completed a preliminary examination on the body at the scene and the remains have now been taken away for a post mortem at the Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore

Gardaí would not comment on the circumstances in which the woman's body was found shortly after 11am.

Read more including video at link: http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1107/laois-search.html

So sad! So the original suspect was released? Is this his property? Sorry, my heard is foggy today.

Side note: I could listen to that accent all day!!! Beautiful!

 

[Irishgirl12]

Thanks for failte Legally Brunette!

MOO the Gardai went down the wrong line on this..... Media followed it, but not as urgently or frantically as other cases. May Aoife rest in peace. Thoughts & prayers with her family & friends.

My name is also Aoife & I'm the same age. A life gone far, far too soon...and in such a terrible way :-(


MOO
(P.s sorry if I have broken any rules in comment, I'm not very familiar)

 

[Irishgirl12]

Yes TxLady2, this piece confirms same suspect re arrested

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/1107/breaking8.html

 

[airplanelamp]

Thanks for failte Legally Brunette!

MOO the Gardai went down the wrong line on this..... Media followed it, but not as urgently or frantically as other cases. May Aoife rest in peace. Thoughts & prayers with her family & friends.

My name is also Aoife & I'm the same age. A life gone far, far too soon...and in such a terrible way :-(


MOO
(P.s sorry if I have broken any rules in comment, I'm not very familiar)

What a tragic loss. Keeping her family in my thoughts.

Off topic, but my cousin is also an Aoife and from quite near Portlaoise. When I saw the name it totally caught my attention as its not a common name at all where I live (Canada).

 

[wfgodot]

Just a reminder - Fluttershy's proposal for a UK/Ireland forum; please post your thoughts at the link below:

UK and Eire Forum

Bumping this one downward, as it were. If anyone has a minute.

Thanks to all who are local to the area and to Ireland for posting. Another sad but interesting one.

 

[belfastgirl73]

R.I.P Aoife and your unborn child - two lives taken, for what? :furious:

 

[LegallyBrunette]

Thanks for failte Legally Brunette!

MOO the Gardai went down the wrong line on this..... Media followed it, but not as urgently or frantically as other cases. May Aoife rest in peace. Thoughts & prayers with her family & friends.

My name is also Aoife & I'm the same age. A life gone far, far too soon...and in such a terrible way :-(


MOO
(P.s sorry if I have broken any rules in comment, I'm not very familiar)

Aoife, I couldn't agree more with your comments. At least RTE are covering well, and it seems that Gardai are 'onto it' now. My late uncle was a guard in Co. Kerry, I know how it was when he was serving but expect that like police here in Oz things are different now to what they were when I was growing up.

As a Mum, I can't begin to imagine the pain for Aoife's parents, especially the Mother, to lose a child is a tragedy, to know that your precious girl and her unborn child have been taken from you in this way....can only pray that her faith brings some shred of comfort. Her Mum and Dad have showed such dignity and grace.
Aoife's photos show such a lovely, happy girl, pretty Irish face - a natural beauty. I hope her family will know that a lot of strangers they will never meet sincerely care about the loss of Aoife and her little one, respectfully offer thoughts and prayers for their sorrow, and that justice will be done.

 

[LegallyBrunette]

Bumping this one downward, as it were. If anyone has a minute.

Thanks to all who are local to the area and to Ireland for posting. Another sad but interesting one.

Echo this - really appreciate these posts. The family of Aoife in Co Laois and Catherine Gowing in Offaly will now mourn the loss of a beautiful daughter and sister in such terrible circumstances.
Not forgetting the family of Jill Meagher in Co Drogheda and Perth, W.A.

Three beautiful Irish lasses, lives so full of promise with so much more to give. There are no words adequate for the perpetrators.

 

[wfgodot]

Another recent UK missing, posted this today earlier:

UK Scotland: Alan Wylie, 14, Broughty Ferry, Dundee; 04 November 2012

 

[LegallyBrunette]

By Sarah Stack
Wednesday November 07 2012

GARDAI have tonight arrested a man in his 20s as part of the investigation into the murder of Aoife Phelan.

"As part of the investigation into the murder of Aoife Phelan, Gardaí have this evening, November 7th 2012, arrested a man in his 20s," a Garda spokesman said. "He is detained at Portlaoise Garda Station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.

Parish priest Fr Gerard Ahern earlier said Ms Phelan's disappearance had shocked her close-knit community in Cashel in the village of Ballyroan.
"It's very sombre. It's just amazing the effect it has had, there's a very gloomy feeling about," he said.
"But at least a body has been found. While it's not what we would have hoped for, it's some comfort to the family that they will have Aoife home.
"They have shown great strength and courage in the face of this. They have been exceptional and have had great support from family and the community."

The dead woman's grief-stricken family - parents Michael and Betty and their 11 other children - held a candlelight vigil last Friday in the town, where they prayed for her safe return.


http://www.independent.ie/national-...s-20s-after-aoifes-body-is-found-3286148.html

Just found this- posting link only, details are fairly graphic. Arrested man is named.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...oifes-ex-quizzed-on-body-found-in-barrel.html

 

[Public_Hysteria]

Rest in peace, Aoife. I have no doubt you would have made an amazing mother to your beautiful child. My thoughts are with your family and friends, while they grieve through this tragic and difficult time. :rose:

 

[Buckeye lady]

Very sorry to hear this, Spotlight. Prayers and hugs for her family.