Woman held over 1987 Co Westmeath murder

A woman in her 60s has been arrested in Co Westmeath as part of an investigation into the disappearance and murder of Brian McGrath in the 1980s.

The woman was arrested at Coole, near Castlepollard, at 8.15am today and is being held under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act in Mullingar Garda station.

Gardaí investigating the disappearance of Mr McGrath in 1987 exhumed a body from a cemetery in the Co Westmeath in May of this year and also begun a forensic examination of his former home.

The last confirmed sighting of Mr McGrath was in March 1987, but gardaí were only made aware of his disappearance when a family member approached them in 1993.

The follow-up investigation resulted in a Garda search team uncovering unidentified human remains in the overgrown garden attached to the cottage that had been the McGrath family home.

Detectives believed the body had been set alight before it was secretly buried.

An investigation was carried out at the time, and a file was submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions, but no prosecutions were taken.