Father in new appeal to caller

The father of missing woman Ms Deirdre Jacob (19) appealed again yesterday for an anonymous male caller to contact gardai.

More than 100 people have contacted gardai, some calling from Northern Ireland, since a recording of the man's voice was played on radio news reports and on the Crimeline programme last Monday. Most of the callers believe they know the man. However, the man himself has not contacted the Gardai.

The man has made eight phone calls: three to the Leinster Express, two to gardai in Newbridge, Co Kildare, one to gardai in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, one to Northern Sound radio and a final call to the Jacob house outside Newbridge. This last call, in October, was brief, with the caller saying he was "the man from the North" before the line went dead.

The family's last contact was a letter purporting to have been written by the man two weeks ago.

In each of the calls he has said he gave a young woman matching Ms Jacob's description a lift to Carrickmacross on the day she disappeared. She had attended a disco in the town some weeks before she disappeared, a fact which had not been disclosed.

Mr Michael Jacob said yesterday he believed there was nothing to indicate that the caller was a hoaxer. "All I can go on is that I've spoken with everyone who has had a phone conversation with him and all those people - seven of them - feel he was genuine. We have made it known in numerous ways that he has nothing to fear from us."

Mr Jacob said he and his wife spent seven weekends in Co Fermanagh handing out leaflets and putting up posters. "We have at this stage sent out hundreds of appeals to him."

Local papers in Co Fermanagh are due to publish appeals this week for the man to come forward.

Mr Jacob said if the man had given a different woman a lift on the day his daughter disappeared and had mistaken her for his daughter, then it was surprising that this young woman had not come forward.

Ms Jacob disappeared from near her home outside Newbridge on July 28th. The calls from the man, who has a pronounced Northern accent, are the only lead in the investigation.

Insp Sean Lavin said gardai were sifting through calls made to them after the tape was played. "It will take some time to go through them all and we won't know until we go through them."