I killed Deirdre Jacob – Larry Murphy’s drunken brag to cellmate in prison
Statement helped gardaí to upgrade investigation to murder
A DRUNKEN brag to a cellmate has placed Larry Murphy at the centre of a renewed investigation into the disappearance, and now presumed murder, of teenager Deirdre Jacob, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.
A convicted killer told gardaí Murphy admitted abducting and murdering the then-18-year-old teaching student.
The man, aged in his 40s, made the statement to gardaí in 2011 and the MoS has learned officers are now hoping to ‘proactively engage’ further with the prisoner in the hope of moving on the investigation. The killer, whose brother also served time for murder and whose father was jailed for a violent crime, alleged Murphy admitted
Murphy was working in Deirdre’s hometown
killing Deirdre Jacob with a hammer before disposing of her body in a lake.
A source told the MoS that the alleged admission ‘has a very important part to play [in the investigation] if we are ever going to move this on’.
‘There is a strategy. The investigation was upgraded to murder following the culmination of a lot of things uncovered during the review over the past year which have been pulled all together,’ the source said.
The MoS has also learned that Murphy can be placed in the Newbridge area of Co. Kildare around the time Deirdre Jacob disappeared.
It is understood tradesmen have told detectives that Murphy was working at a local hotel when the teenager vanished.
The source said: ‘The upgrade in the investigation is a result of relevant facts being established. For example, where people were working at the time.’
Another source said rumours have been circulating about Murphy’s involvement in Deirdre Jacob’s disappearance since his arrest for rape in 2000.
‘There were lots of people mouthing off about him and how he drank in Coffey’s pub in Newbridge.
‘But there were always other names in the hat too. There was a local member of the Travelling community who killed himself a week after she vanished who was suspected and there was another man who raped an elderly woman who was also in the frame.’
The extensive investigation is being led by Superintendent Martin Walker along with Chief Superintendent Brian Sutton from Kildare Garda Station.
Detectives from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, including those from the cold-case unit and the Serious Crime Review Team, are also involved.
Chief Supt Sutton this week urged anyone with information to come forward. ‘The new information is substantial enough to make us reclassify the investigation as a murder inquiry,’ he said.
‘There are a number of persons of interest in this case and we are appealing to anyone with information who can assist us to come forward. Their information will be treated in a sensitive and confidential manner. ‘Deirdre Jacob was 18 years of age when she was last seen on July 28, 1998, as she walked to her home in Newbridge, Co. Kildare.
‘She was a young woman starting off her life, who had just completed one year at St Mary’s University in Twickenham, London.
‘Deirdre had enjoyed her life in London and was looking forward to returning to college that September when her life was taken away on or after July 28, 1998.
‘At the moment, the case of Deirdre is top priority, and we will look at the other cases if we feel that this information could benefit those investigations,’ said Chief Supt Sutton.
Larry Murphy was released from prison in 2010 after he was convicted of raping and kidnapping a businesswoman in 2000.
The rapist spent a number of months in Ireland after his release before travelling to Amsterdam, Spain and Israel.
Gardaí believe Murphy is now living in London, where he has been since 2013.
The rapist, a father of two, who was married before he was jailed, did not return to Ireland for the funeral of his mother, Margaret Murphy, in May. He was not mentioned during the service, which was attended by over a hundred relatives and friends.