Search in Wicklow over Jo Jo Dullard and Deirdre Jacob murders

A search is being carried out in Co Wicklow by Gardaí investigating the disappearance and murder of Jo Jo Dullard and Deirdre Jacob.

On Monday, An Garda Síochána said they are investigating an area of open ground near the Wicklow/Kildare border.

The two women disappeared in the 1990s and Gardaí said they were assisted by the Defence Forces last week, in carrying out a technical ground survey of the area.

They said: “This area of land will now be searched and subject to excavation and forensic examinations over the coming days.”

The operation is being led by the Serious Crime Review Team, the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation along with local Gardaí and is supported by the Garda National Technical Bureau.

In February, an area of ground in Co Wicklow near the border with Co Kildare was searched over a number of days.

Gardaí said they are keeping the families of the two women “updated in relation to these investigations and they have been fully appraised of these developments”.

Josephine “Jo Jo” Dullard went missing on November 9 1995 while on her way home to Callan in Co Kilkenny after socialising in Bruxelles bar on Dublin’s Harry Street.

The 21-year-old missed her last bus to Kilkenny and instead boarded a 10pm bus to Naas, Co Kildare, intending to hitchhike the rest of the way home.

She hitched a lift from Naas to the slip road on the M9 motorway at Kilcullen, Co Kildare, and at 11.15pm got another lift to Moone.

There, Ms Dullard called her friend Mary Cullinan at 11.37pm from a phone box.

During that call, Ms Dullard told Ms Cullinan that a car had stopped for her and she was going to take the lift.

Ms Jacob was last seen near her home at Roseberry, Newbridge, in Co Kildare at around 3pm on July 28 1998.

She was 18 at the time of her disappearance and had just completed one year at St Mary’s University in London.

On the day she was last seen, Ms Jacob had walked into Newbridge town to get a bank draft to send to a college friend in London for their rent deposit.

At 2.14pm, she was observed on CCTV walking on Main Street, Newbridge, and shortly after was observed in the AIB bank.

At 2.26pm, Ms Jacob was observed again on CCTV queuing in the Newbridge Post Office and at 2.32pm was seen on CCTV speaking with a friend outside the Post Office on Main Street.

The last-known recording of Ms Jacob on CCTV was recorded at 2.35pm, walking outside the PTSB Bank on Main Street.

She was last seen shortly after 3pm near her family home.