The crime journalist Paul Williams has said Gardaí investigating the disappearance of Philip Cairns are expected to carry out a dig in a field on the Tallaght side of the Dublin mountains.

This follows reports the now deceased paedophile Eamon Cooke buried a container 20 foot underground, at the site.

More than 30 years ago, witnesses saw the serial child abuser using a digger in the field and presumed he was constructing a transmitter system for his pirate radio station.

Paul Williams says Eamon Cooke used his celebrity in a similar way to Jimmy Saville: “He was such a manipulative character.”