Three arrested in Garda probe into double murder
Dogs scour compound for bodies of tragic missing couple
A MALE relative of a famous boxer, the sister of a notorious crime boss and a close associate of a gun-murder victim were all being questioned last night about the double murder of a couple whose bodies have never been found.
The trio are all suspected of being in the vicinity and may even have witnessed the murders of Willie Maughan and his pregnant girlfriend, Ana Varslavane, at a property in Gormanston, Co Meath, on April 14, 2015.
A massive search operation for evidence took place yesterday at the compound of gang boss Cornelius Price where gardaí believe the couple were murdered. Price has come to attention recently for his involvement with one of the gangs in the Drogheda feud. Price left Ireland after the murder of Keane Mulready-Woods (17) in January.
Gardaí drafted in members of the Defence Forces for help in their detailed searches yesterday.
Soldiers scoured ditches and assisted the Garda Dog Unit during the raid.
The three suspects were arrested in earlier raids in Co Meath and Co Longford and they were all being questioned at Garda stations in Co Meath and Dublin last night.
“Two men, aged in their 50s and 60s, and one woman, aged in her 40s, are currently detained at Garda stations in counties Meath and Dublin under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939,” a Garda spokesman said.
The trio are not suspected of being active participants in the gruesome double murder but all are suspected of “having key knowledge about it”.
The arrests were welcomed last night by Willie Maughan’s father Joe who told the Irish Independent: “We are hoping and praying that we will get justice and my family want to thank gardaí for not giving up in this case.”
One of those arrested is the sister of a criminal who is also a “person of interest” in the case. She is the mother of a number of children and lives in Navan, Co Meath.
Also in custody is a man in his 60s from Munster who is related to a well-known former boxing champion.
“Unlike his famous relative, this suspect was down on his luck where he lived a miserable and meagre existence – like many of Price’s other gophers,” a source said last night.
“Gardaí believe that, just like the arrested women, he was there when those terrible murders happened. The boxing star has very little to do with him and would have absolutely no knowledge of these disgusting events.”
Also being grilled by detectives is a 52-year-old man from Balbriggan who was closely associated with gun murder victim Benny Whitehouse.
He also “lived the life of a slave” in Price’s compound despite the fact that members of his gang are the chief suspects for the murder of his friend Mr Whitehouse.
Mr Whitehouse was shot dead at Clonard Street, Balbriggan, on September 25, 2014, in front of his partner in an unsolved gangland murder.
“These arrests and the new searches are all about gardaí trying to get the information that could lead to charges in this case. Gardaí are in no doubt that these individuals know what happened,” the source added.
As the massive Garda operation unfolded, gang boss Price remained in England where he has been based for most of the year.
Willie Maughan (34) and his Latvian girlfriend, Ana Varslavane (21), are believed to have been abducted and murdered by the gang when they went missing on April 14, 2015, in Gormanston, Co Meath.
The couple were planning to move back to Tallaght in Dublin on the day they went missing and are understood to have been killed because they had information about the gang’s activities, including another murder. No trace of their bodies has ever been found.
Gardaí arrested a man in his 50s in late April in relation to the double murder and he was later charged with separate serious firearms offences.
In April, 2017, gardaí failed to find any evidence of the tragic couple when they carried out a detailed dig near Monasterboice, Co Louth. Days before this dig, they raided Price’s compound as part of the double murder probe.
‘We are hoping and praying that we will get justice and my family want to thank gardaí for not giving up’