Heavy machinery used in search over Jo Jo Dullard and Deirdre Jacob murders

By Cillian Sherlock, Press Association

A search in Co Wicklow is continuing for a second day as gardaí investigate the disappearance and murder of Jo Jo Dullard and Deirdre Jacob.

On Monday, An Garda Síochána said they were 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.”

On Tuesday, heavy machinery including an excavator was seen removing soil from an area of open ground.

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, then aged 21, went missing on November 9th 1995 while on her way home to Callan in Co Kilkenny after socialising in Bruxelles bar on Dublin’s Harry Street.

Jacob, then 18, was last seen near her home at Roseberry, Newbridge, in Co Kildare at around 3pm on July 28, 1998.