Pickard search may continue into next week

THE search for the remains of missing man Charles Brooke Pickard in a patch of isolated forest near Waterville is now expected to continue into next week.

Mr Pickard – a father of four – is missing since 1991 when, it is suspected, he was abducted and murdered by an INLA linked northern Irish crime gang.

Last Tuesday a 20 strong specialist Garda and Army team began searching for Mr Pickard’s remains in a 50 square metre patch of woodland in Derrennageeha at Ballaghisheen Pass near Waterville.

The search teams progress has been severely hampered by conditions on site with much of the last week taken up with removing dense undergrowth and tree stumps from the Coilte run forest.

Most of the site has now been cleared – a process made slower as the search teams did not want to risk disturbing any buried remains or damaging any potential evidence – and the search proper got underway at the weekend.

Killerney Garda Superintendent Flor Murphy said search teams will not leave the site until they have either uncovered Mr Pickard’s remains or they are completely satisfied he is not at the site.

“The search will go on as long as it has to,” said Supt Murphy who added that the search may last into next week. Meanwhile, Mr Pickard’s family are being kept updated with all developments at the search site.