Gardai investigating the disappearance of Ms Deirdre Jacob (19) last night released without charge a man who was arrested on suspicion of wasting Garda time. Gardai said they were still not sure if the man had contact with her on the day she was last seen, as he has claimed.
The middle-aged man has an address in Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh.
A man became a source of concern to gardai and the Jacob family after he claimed to have given a lift to a woman matching Deirdre's description on July 28th last, the day she went missing near her home at Newbridge, Co Kildare.
In a number of anonymous phone calls, the man said he gave her a lift to Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan. It has since emerged that Deirdre had gone to a disco in Carrickmacross a couple of weeks before she vanished.
Earlier this month, a letter purporting to be from the same man was sent to a regional newspaper. Gardai appealed for him to come forward on the Crimeline TV programme and broadcast a recording of one of the phone calls.
That appeal resulted in more than 100 calls and as a result of that response and the reaction from the public, gardai met a man by arrangement in Monaghan town on Wednesday night. The man was arrested on suspicion of wasting police time and detained in Monaghan Garda station under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
Insp Sean Larkin said: "We cannot say for definite whether he had any contact with Deirdre Jacob. We have further inquiries to make and a file will be sent to the DPP. The fact remains that Deirdre still has not been located and the investigation will go on."