Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LAKE HUNT FOR LISA
Divers search area few minutes’ walk from where 25-year-old was last seen
A FRESH search for murdered Lisa Dorrian is under way after detectives “refocused” their investigation.
Dive teams are now scouring small lakes just a few minutes’ walk from where the 25-year-old was last seen alive 16 years ago in Co Down.
PSNI Det Supt Jason Murphy said: “These searches are an extension of us adopting new thinking around the circumstances of Lisa’s murder.”
SPECIALIST divers will spend up to two weeks searching submerged clay pits for murdered Lisa Dorrian.
The 25-year-old was last seen alive in 2005 at a caravan park in Ballyhalbert just a few minutes’ walk from the Glastry Clay Pits which are spread over seven distinct areas in Co Down.
Now part of a small nature reserve on the Ards Peninsula, they have been a popular spot for anglers and walkers since 2008, but a senior PSNI detective believes the area may have been used to hide Lisa Dorrian’s body 16 years ago.
Police spent several days examining the land and ponds before presenting them as a search opportunity among the 400 searches already completed.
Det Supt Jason Murphy, who is leading the inquiry, said yesterday: “The fact those searches have not found her body caused me to refocus our investigation on what is most likely to have happened on Sunday, February 27, 2005.”
He confirmed the pits had been examined when Lisa was reported missing on the back of concerns she may have accidentally fallen in.
DS Murphy said: “These searches are an extension of us adopting new thinking around the circumstances of Lisa’s murder.
“While this area was previously considered and work conducted to examine it, our investigative thinking and knowledge has developed over time.
“It is important to police and Lisa’s family that we have clarity and, with the development of search techniques and technology, I intend to gain reassurance that the examination of the lakes has been conducted to the necessary extent and to modern-day standards.”
Police believe as few as two people know the full details of what happened to Lisa and how her body was disappeared in February 2005.
They do not believe her death was planned and they think her body was disposed off quickly and in a panic.
What we know about Glastry Clay Pits:
■ The pits area was searched in 2005 when Lisa was reported as missing
■ There are six ponds and one long ditch, the deepest is 20ft
■ The search area is 1.1 mile from the caravan park by public road
■ A private path leads from the caravan park directly to the pits, and
■ The clay pits are known to locals but the path and car park date from 2008.
Lisa’s dad John and sisters Joanne, Michelle and Ciara, attended the search site yesterday.
Joanne said her family is encouraged by the continued determination of DS Murphy to solve her sister’s murder and return her to them.
She added: “People talk about time being a healer but this gets more and more difficult every day.
“We talk about Lisa now more now than we ever did when she was alive and we’re consumed by the fact she’s gone and we can’t find her so we’re extremely grateful to Lisa’s team for their dedication and for realising how important this is.
“We can’t get on with our lives without Lisa, Lisa is everything to us and coming
We can’t get on with our lives without Lisa JOANNE DORRIAN CO DOWN YESTERDAY
down to a site like this today just puts into perspective the brutality of what possibly happened to Lisa.
“When you come to a place like this and look at all the water it’s very hard to imagine that this is where Lisa could be.
“Our love for Lisa keeps us going, we’re strong and we have that bond with Lisa.
“She didn’t deserve what happened to her in 2005 and she doesn’t deserve what continues to happen to her today, because she doesn’t deserve to be in a place unknown to us and those who loved her.
“She deserves to have a Christian burial which is her basic human right.
“We carry a guilt that we haven’t been able to be there for her and be near her, that we can’t solve this for her but we continue to try.
“We’ve been doing that for 16 years and we’ll continue until the day we find her.
We haven’t been able to grieve properly for Lisa.
“When we come down to a search like this we think, ‘What if ’, we actually allow ourselves to imagine the phone call or what it would be like to have that knock at the door with Jason and the team telling us they’ve got her.
“But we have to haul that back because we can’t let ourselves go to that place without it actually happening because it’s too painful.
“It’s a whole new life for us after that, it’s life before Lisa and life after Lisa and that’s how we categorise things now.
“We just pray we do get the chance to have that day so that we can bury her with Mum, and be able to accept that she’s gone, and then grieve properly.”
DS Murphy said: “It is important that we bring the Dorrian family the answers that any grieving family deserves. While we want to recover Lisa’s body and allow the Dorrian family to finally lay Lisa to rest, we remain determined to bring those who killed her to justice and are also looking for evidence relating to her disappearance.
“I have previously stated that I do not believe Lisa’s murder was pre-planned and I am of the view the deposition of her body was equally unplanned.
“I have repeatedly said I believe the answers to her murder remain local to Ballyhalbert and I remain convinced a small number of people hold the key to Lisa’s disappearance.
“I continue to appeal for those with direct knowledge of Lisa’s whereabouts to find a way to get that information to me, anonymously or via a third party if necessary. Sixteen years have now passed, but our resolve has not diminished.
“It is important we bring the Dorrian family the answers that any grieving family deserves.
“While we want to recover Lisa’s body and allow the Dorrian family to finally lay Lisa to rest we remain determined to bring those who killed her to justice and are also looking for evidence relating to her disappearance.
“Anyone with information should call detectives on 101. Or, if someone would prefer to provide information without giving their details, they can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers and speak to them anonymously on 0800 555 111.”