A fresh appeal has been made to help locate the remains of another of the ‘Disappeared’, British Army Captain Robert Nairac.
Geoff Knupfer from the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR), which is leading the search for the four remaining ‘Disappeared’, says he believes the former SAS captain is buried in north Louth.
As the 40th Anniversary of the undercover soldier’s murder approaches, Geoff Knupfer from the ICLVR says it is his belief that Nairac, a Grenadier Guard who was abducted from the Three Steps pub in Dromintee in May 1977, was buried and possibly reburied in the “general vicinity” of where he was killed.
Mr Knupfer entirely rejected the rumours that Nairac’s body was disposed of at a meat processing factory at Ravensdale shortly after his death and says the Commission believes his body may have been buried, moved and reburied up to three times.
A recent RTE Prime Time programme examining the circumstances of the murder revealed that, although information has been given by republicans regarding the location of other Disappeared victims, no information has been provided in the Nairac case. Mr Knupfer says this silence may be linked to persistent rumours that Nairac was involved in a number of atrocities including the Miami Showband Massacre and the murder of IRA man John Francis Green in Castleblayney in 1975, however he added that despite researching such claims, he has not found “a shred of evidence” to support the accusations.
Fr. William Burke is a former soldier and friend of Robert Nairac who is now a Catholic priest in England. On a recent visit to the area of south Armagh from where his friend was abducted and murdered, Fr Burke said prayers and appealed for information on Nairac’s whereabouts so his family can give him a Christian burial.