Man arrested in southeast over 1991 Kerry abduction case

Gardaí in Killarney have arrested a man as part of the ongoing investigation into the abduction and disappearance of an English man in Co Kerry 25 years ago.

Charles Brooke Pickard was abducted in a car park near his home in Castlecove, Co Kerry, shortly after leaving his house to go turf-cutting on April 26th, 1991.

Mr Brooke Pickard, who was 43 at the time of his disappearance, was bundled into his van by a group of up to five men wearing balaclavas and carrying shotguns, according to witnesses. He has not been seen since.

Gardaí suspect he was abducted by hired gunmen from Northern Ireland in a dispute involving drugs money.

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The man arrested is in his late 60s and is understood to be from Belfast.

He was detained in the southeast on Wednesday evening as part of a planned operation by gardaí.

He is being held at Killarney Garda station under the provisions of section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939, which means he can be held for an initial period of up to three days.

Fresh investigation

A number of police forces including those in the UK and Northern Ireland are involved in a fresh investigation, which began earlier this year, into the disappearance of the father of four.

Last September, gardaí excavated a remote An Coillte site on a high mountain pass near Waterville, close to the spot where Mr Brooke Pickard’s van was found burned out three weeks after his disappearance.

Mr Brooke Pickard and his wife, Penny, moved to Ireland from England in the mid-1980s and bought a farm and old farmhouse, where they lived with their children aged 15, 11, 7 and 5. Penny and his son, Crohan, now a father of five, continue to live in south Kerry.