A NEW book by a former Co. Wexford garda explores some of the numerous cases of women who disappeared over the past 20 years in Ireland.
The former Detective Sergeant Alan Bailey, who was stationed in New Ross, released the book ‘Missing, Presumed’, published by Liberties Press, just before Christmas and it is currently retailing at €12.99.
Between 1993 and 1998, six Irish women, ranging in age from 18 to 28, disappeared. The area in which these disappearances occurred became publicly referred to as ‘The Vanishing Triangle’. To date, none of the missing females have ever been located.
These six unsolved cases resulted in the creation of the specialist Garda task force ‘Operation Trace’, set up in the hope of finding a connection between the missing women. The task force investigated dozens of unsolved cases of women gone missing in Ireland. Alan Bailey served as the National Coordinator for the task force for thirteen years.
‘Missing, Presumed’ details the Garda investigations into the case studies of 15 women who disappeared over a time span of 20 years. In almost half of the cases, the women’s badly mutilated bodies were recovered, buried in shallow graves. Each chapter focuses on one woman’s story, detailing the timeline of events that led to her disappearance, beginning on the day of her disappearance through to the ensuing investigation, and up to – when lucky – a conviction.
The book offers an insightful, if harrowing glimpse into the true stories of various disappearances over the last two decades including sections on the cases of people like Annie McCarrick, JoJo Dollard and Wexford’s Fiona Sinnott. The book narrates in minute detail the timeline of those critical days and hours, leading up to some of the most tragic cases of disappearances since 1993.
There is also a detailed chapter on convicted Irish rapist Larry Murphy and the author explores his status as a suspected serial killer.
Alan Bailey served as national coordinator of Operation TRACE, a specialist Garda taskforce set up in an effort to find a link between six women that went missing between 1993-98, in an area known ominously as ‘the Vanishing Triangle’.
Since his retirement in 2011, he has worked full time in a voluntary role as manager of Capuchin Day Centre for homeless people in Smithfield.
His motivation behind writing the book is simple. “I sincerely hope that my book will help to continue to highlight the cases of the missing and, hopefully, in some small way, contribute to a successful outcome to the investigations.”
