A NEW attempt to find the remains of 33-year-old Seamus Ruddy, murdered and believed buried in France by members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), has failed, the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains has confirmed.
Representatives from the commission spent the past week in the Rouen region of Normandy in France searching for the remains of Mr Ruddy, one of the disappeared, who went missing in Paris in 1985 after a dispute with the INLA.
They were accompanied by a team of forensic experts from Britain and Ireland who searched an identified area where it had been indicated to the commission that the remains of Mr Ruddy might be located.
A previous search was held in the area eight years ago.
"A thorough technical and physical search of this area was conducted, including extensive excavation of the site," said a commission spokesman.
"Work concluded at the weekend and, unfortunately, no remains were found." The spokesman said the commission had no further information on where Mr Ruddy may be buried, although the case remained open.
Mr Ruddy, a former member of the INLA's political wing, the Irish Republican Socialist Party, was teaching in a private school in Paris when he was killed in a dispute that is understood to have related to INLA arms smuggling. The INLA admitted his murder.
The commission urged anyone with information about the location of his body to come forward.
Mr Ruddy's sister, Anne Morgan said she believed someone had led the commission "down the garden path" by suggesting he knew where the body was buried.
She said the information given to the commission was provided by the same individual who gave information for the 2000 search in the same area. Ms Morgan accused this man of wasting the time of commission and causing added grief to the Ruddy family.
"We hope that the INLA will go back and talk to its members and find out if anyone else has been to that forest and if so to come back and give us the information," added Ms Morgan.
