Gardaí tackle cold-case mystery of Trevor Deely’s disappearance

Gardaí have opened a new investigation into the disappearance of Trevor Deely, who went missing in Dublin following a Christmas party in December 2000.

A newly established team of six officers in Pearse Street Garda station has been conducting a “cold case review” into the unsolved mystery for the past two months.

Deely was 22 at the time of his disappearance. He went missing on the night of December 7th after his office Christmas party. Family, friends and colleagues are being re-interviewed, in a bid to unearth new information.

The development emerges on a day when Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald hosts Ireland’s fourth annual Missing Persons Day ceremony at Farmleigh.

“The new team are going back over all the statements, they are re-interviewing everyone, and they have sent the CCTV footage to an expert company in the UK for forensic enhancement,” according to Trevor Deely’s sister, Michele Deely.

The UK company is able to dramatically enhance the 16-year-old CCTV images taken the night the young Dubliner disappeared held by the original investigation team

No information

Members of the team have already made two trips to the UK, though gardaí say no information will be given out about the new investigation.

The CCTV footage contains the last known sighting of Mr Deely at 4.14am on the morning of December 8th, outside the then Bank of Ireland building on the corner of Baggot Street and Haddington Road in Dublin 4.

It shows him walking away from the camera in the direction of Haddington Road, holding an umbrella.

No trace of him, or anything belonging to him, has ever been found.

Mr Deely worked for Bank of Ireland Asset Management. And that evening he had been attending their office party at the Hilton Hotel on Charlemont Place.

Afterwards, Mr Deely and some of his colleagues went to Buck Whaley’s night club on Leeson Street. It was a stormy, wet night and he called into his office after leaving the nightclub to collect an umbrella.

While there, according to a colleague working a night shift, Mr Deely logged on to his computer.

“The guards examined the PC at the time and then gave it back to us,” said Ms Deely. “The new team have now taken it back again.”

Fresh lead

The family hope this latest investigation will yield a fresh lead. They are particularly hopeful that examination of the CCTV footage will produce enhanced images and clues about anyone not yet identified who may have been in the background.

“We are always looking for something that will jog the memory of someone who might come forward,” said Ms Deely.

Anyone with any information about Trevor Deely or another missing person should email missing_persons@garda.ie or contact any Garda station.

The Farmleigh Missing Persons Day ceremony in Farmleigh on Wednesday morning will commemorate those who have gone missing, but also recognise the lasting trauma faced by their families and friends.

The ceremony, which will conclude outdoors with the symbolic release of homing pigeons, and the laying of remembrance roses, will be attended by the families of missing people, plus community groups working with them.