Fresh appeal on 1977 disappearance of Capt Robert Nairac

Those charged with trying to find the bodies of the disappeared victims of the Troubles have issued a fresh appeal for information that might lead to the recovery of the remains of Capt Robert Nairac.

The British army officer was murdered by the IRA in south Armagh in 1977.

The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR) urged anyone with information about location of the officer’s remains to contact the commission.

Capt Nairac was on a covert operation in a pub in Dromintee in 1977 when, it is believed, his cover was blown and he was abducted, beaten, shot dead and then disappeared by the IRA.

New book

The commission's chief investigator Geoff Knupfer hoped that interest in a new book, Betrayal: The Murder Of Robert Nairac GC, by Alistair Kerr might prompt people with information to come forward.

“The remains of 12 of the 16 disappeared have been restored to their families for Christian burial. Of the four remaining cases, Robert Nairac, is the one on which we have least information to work from,” said Mr Knupfer.

“The disappeared came from a range of backgrounds but what they all have in common is that they have grieving families who had to bear the additional terrible burden of years of not knowing where their loved one was buried,” he added.

“In the past year or so we have recovered the remains of three of the disappeared two of whom had been missing for over 40 years,” he continued.

“We were able to do that because we were given the information necessary to put us in the right place. We need that information to help find Robert Nairac”.