A MAN serving a prison sentence in Britain has been questioned by gardai investigating the disappearance of the Kilkenny woman, Ms Josephine Dullard, in November 1995.
The prisoner is one of two British suspects. The other man, who has also been questioned, is now in Australia and appears to be "on a world tour", according to Garda sources.
The two men were travelling in the Republic at the time of Ms Dullard's disappearance, and have been unable to account for their whereabouts on November 9th, 1995, the night she went missing.
Gardai are anxious to determine if the two men, considered important suspects in the case, are connected to an incident reported by a taxidriver in Waterford. He told the investigating team earlier this year that on November 9th 1995 - the night Ms Dullard disappeared - he was near Waterford and saw a young woman apparently trying to escape from a car, but being bundled back into it by two men. There are no other reports of an abduction & similar crime which would account for the incident.
Ms Dullard was hitchhiking home and got as far as the village of Castledermot, Co Kildare, when she was given a lift by two men, according to eyewitness reports. Her disappearance led to months of intensive searching by gardai and the Army and Civil Defence in the surrounding countryside, but no trace of her was ever found.
However, gardai in Kilkenny recalled that on the night after her disappearance they arrested two British men for breaking into a telephone box in the town, apparently looking for money. The men left the State after their release.
The two were later found in Britain. They told investigating officers that they travelled extensively in the State, their tour included Limerick and Galway as well as Kilkenny. By checking with hotels and guest houses gardai have been able to corroborate the suspects' account as to where they stayed during their tour. The only night which remains unaccounted for, with no hotel or guesthouse corroborating their story, is the night Ms Dullard disappeared.