Enhanced Confusion

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cctv-1-624x481trevor

From top: CCTV footage showing three men waiting outside Trevor’s Deely’s workplace. Gardai say the two men on the left are Trevor’s work colleagues; Trevor Deely

On April 7, Crimestoppers launched a renewed appeal for missing Trevor Deely.

“Forensically-enhanced’ CCTV footage was released showing a man standing outside the back entrance of Trevor’s work that Gardai now wished to question.

Some of the footage, however, had been used previously in a 2015 TV3 documentary and, in one screen grab, a second man (not Trevor) can be seen next to the person of interest.

Filmmakers David Lester Mooney and Mark Kilbride, having discovered this anomaly, then spotted a third person in another image (top).

This afternoon, David and Mark were contacted by a Garda officer who stated that these two new figures have “previously been identified” as Trevor’s work colleagues.

If this is correct, it throws into question certain accounts of that evening that we have been given since Trevor vanished and adds to the confusion that surrounds many aspects of this case.

The following is a timeline of relevant events since Trevor’s disappearance on December 8, 2000, detailing some discrepancies and raising a number of questions.

May, 1999: Trevor Deely, aged 21, starts work at Bank of Ireland Asset Management on Wilton Terrace.

Trevor is the son of senior Bord Bia official Michael Deely, originally from Loughrea and now living in Naas.

Trevor has two sisters, Pamela and Michele, and a brother Mark.

2000: Trevor moves into an apartment in the Renoir complex in Serpentine Avenue, Sandymount, Dublin 4. He shares the apartment with two female flatmates, Niamh and Sharon.

November, 2000: Trevor leaves for a holiday in Alaska. According to family and friends, he had previously met Karen, a girl from Alaska, while she was visiting Ireland.

Tuesday December 5, 2000: Trevor arrives back in Dublin. He catches a bus from Dublin Airport to Naas and stays for a short time. According to his father Michael Deely, Trevor told his parents that he would not be down the following weekend.

Wednesday December 6, 2000: Trevor returns to work at Bank of Ireland Asset Management.

Thursday December 7, 2000:

4.00 p.m: Trevor finishes work at Bank of Ireland Asset Management.

He later attends a drinks reception in Copper Face Jacks before the staff annual Christmas Party in the Hilton Hotel, Charlemont Place.

In ‘Without Trace,’ by Barry Cummins, it is reported that ‘in the afternoon’ Trevor visited his father’s office, in Mount Street, to collect contact lenses sent there by Trevor’s brother Mark, an optician. It is further stated that Trevor did not see his father Michael Deely during the visit as Mr Deely was out at the time visiting a number of locations as part of his job.

According to Michael Deely (Sunday Independent 23/12/2012) Trevor phoned him ‘that evening’ from his apartment in Ballsbridge to say that there was something wrong with the electricity and then phones back again to say he has spoken to the ESB and got the electricity fixed.

This account indicates that Trevor returned to his apartment in Ballsbridge before going out.

In the same interview, Michael Deely says that his final conversation with Trevor was over the phone when he was in Copper Face Jacks.

8.45 pm: Trevor and friends leave Copper Face Jacks for the Hilton Hotel in Charlemont Place.

11-11.30 pm: Trevor receives a call from his friend Glen Cullen, but it is too noisy to talk. The two friends miss each another when they call back.

Friday, December 8, 2000:

2 am: Trevor and friends leave the Hilton Hotel for Buck Whaley’s in Leeson Street.

3.35 am: Trevor arrives alone at the gate of his office in Wilton Terrace.

Security footage shows a man waiting outside the office for approximately half an hour before Trevor’s arrival. The man runs to talk to Trevor when he arrives at the gate and they have a brief conversation. Trevor then enters through the gate, which is locked but unchained.

In ‘Without Trace,’ it is stated that Trevor was let in the gate by a security guard, Peter: “A few minutes earlier Peter had taken the chains off the gate for delivery of internal post. Trevor thanked Peter for letting him in”.

3.36 am: Trevor speaks to his work colleague, Karl Pender, asking him if he has time for a cup of tea. According to Pender, he had something to do at the time and asked Trevor to wait.

3.37 am: Security footage shows the man who spoke to Trevor, standing outside the gate with another man. There is a third, possibly unconnected, figure behind them. [Gardai have said that two of these men were Trevor’s colleagues]

While waiting for Pender, Trevor logs on and sends an email. In subsequent interviews, Trevor’s family have described the contents of this email as ‘not significant’. He also leaves himself reminders of things to do the next day. After 10 minutes, the two men have coffee in the staff canteen before Pender returns to work.

4.03 am: Trevor leaves the office, carrying a corporate ACC bank golf umbrella described in some reports as navy and in others blue.

4.05 am: Trevor leaves a voicemail message for Glen Cullen. According to Glen, the message said: “‘Hi, Glen, I’ve missed you there. Just on my way home, all going good, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.’ Or words to that very close effect.” (IT 28/3/2015)

Glen also says that he and another friend Conor Loonan had arranged to meet up with Trevor the following evening in Thomas Fletcher’s pub in Naas.

However, according to Trevor’s father Michael Deely, quoted in the same article, Trevor had told his family when home on Tuesday, December 5, that he was going to stay in Dublin over the weekend and go Christmas shopping.

The Gardai did not seek to retrieve the mobile message left for Glen, on the basis that it was not relevant.

4.14 am. footage shows a man identified as Trevor walking past the AIB Bank on Haddington Road (now Milano’s pizza), a route which would bring him back to his apartment in Ballsbridge.

Subsequent passers-by include a man (30 seconds behind), followed by a young girl, and then by a couple. The couple are subsequently identified but say that they do not remember Trevor, or anything untoward.

9.30am: Trevor fails to turn up for work. No action is taken by Bank of Ireland.

Saturday December 9, 2000 – Sunday December 10, 2000:

No contact is made with Trevor by Michael, Ann, Mark or Pamela Deely with Trevor over the weekend. Michael Deely says “I wouldn’t be ringing him to find out how he was because he should have been working the next day.”

Trevor’s other sister Michele, then working in London, called his mobile “probably four times” over the weekend without knowing he was missing. She has stated that she believes his phone rang. Ultimately, the phone went dead.

It is not clear whether or not Glenn Cullen or Conor Loonan phoned Trevor when he failed to turn up at Thomas Fletcher’s pub in Naas as arranged on Saturday night.

Monday, December 11, 2000:

At some point during the day, Bank of Ireland phones Trevor’s parents’ home in Naas.

Trevor’s mother Ann Deely phones his father Michael, in Dublin, and his brother Mark, in Castlebar.

Mark Deely says that he immediately had a sixth sense that something was wrong, cancelled work and started to drive to Naas, according to The Irish Times piece.

In the same article, Michael Deely says that on being phoned by his wife he rang Trevor’s mobile and went to his apartment, but did not have a key to get in and no one answered when he rang the bell. Michael Deely subsequently returned to Naas.

Further In the same piece, it is stated that, after calling into Naas, Mark Deely went on to Dublin, arriving in the afternoon. He called first to Copper Face Jacks and then travelled out to Ballsbridge. The article does not state whether he entered Trevor’s apartment.

It also says that later that evening Mark Deely returned to Naas and, accompanied by Glen Cullen, reported Trevor’s disappearance to Naas Garda Station.

There appears to be some confusion as to the timing of the initial phone call to Ann Deely. In the Irish Times interview, Mark Deely said that his mother phoned him in Castlebar at 10.30 am. In his interview with the Sunday Independent (23/12/2012), Michael Deely says that his wife phoned him ‘in the afternoon’.

Tuesday, December 12, 2000: A search of Trevor’s route home is carried out by the Deely family and friends. The Grand Canal is searched by a Garda sub-aqua team.

December-January 2000: Searches for Trevor continue, organised by Mark Deely, who will not return to work until after Christmas. Michael Deely similarly will not return to work for six months after Trevor’s disappearance.

Flyers posted with Trevor’s picture are handed out and posted around the Ballsbridge/Dublin 2 area. Garda sub-aqua divers also search the Dodder river. No trace of Trevor is found.

Trevor’s friend Conleth Loonan, a CCTV expert, succeeds in sourcing AIB security footage showing Trevor passing the bank in Haddington Road. The footage was located only shortly before it was due to be destroyed.

December  23, 2012: Michael Deely gives an interview to the Sunday Independent regarding Trevor’s disappearance. This is the first interview to give any detailed information about the night of Trevor’s disappearance.

February-March 2015:  The Irish Times carries a detailed three part series on Trevor’s disappearance, including interviews with his father, Michael Deely, his brother, Mark Deely, his sister, Michele Deely and his friend, Glen Cullen.

In the piece, Michele Deely, who was in London at the time of her brother’s disappearance, says:-

“Nothing has been found. There’s been zero: zero information or findings. I don’t believe people vanish. That makes no sense to me. That’s the most agonising thing. It actually starts to hurt your brain when you think about it.”

Michele also states, in relation to the fact that Trevor’s phone was never located or pinpointed via its network,

“I don’t accept that [the Garda] couldn’t have done more at the time,” Michele saysI know it wasn’t as advanced as today, but it was still the mobile-phone era: it wasn’t back in the day when there was nothing electronic or digital.”

The same year, journalist Donal McIntyre produces a documentary into the disappearance of Trevor Deely. The documentary includes a screen grab of CCTV footage from outside Trevor’s office, not previously released by Gardai.

The documentary mistakenly describes this footage as depicting Trevor entering the building. In fact it was taken shortly after Trevor had entered the building and shows the two men referred to above..

December 2016: It is reported that a new investigation is to be opened into the disappearance of Trevor Deely, and that a review of CCTV is also part of the investigation, with video footage of Trevor’s last known movements being sent to specialists in the UK for detailed forensic examination.

April 2017:  It is reported that a UK company has been able to dramatically enhance relevant CCTV images leading to a suspicion that the man 30 seconds behind Trevor on Haddington Road may be the same as the man outside the building.

Detailed footage of the man outside the building – of a standard similar to the screen grab shown in the McIntyre documentary, but ending prior to the time of that screen grab – is released by Gardai showing Trevor talking to the man before he enters the building.

No clarification was provided regarding the relationship of this footage with the conversation with the security guard, Peter, reported by Barry Cummins to have taken place at the time of Trevor entering the building.

The footage does however corroborate Mr Cummins’ account (which referenced a chain having been taken off the gate by the security guard) insofar as it shows the chain merely looped across the gate.

The above timeline of events raises a number of questions.

Why has there been no attempt by Gardai to relate the ‘enhanced’ footage of the man met by Trevor on his way into the office with Barry Cummins’ account of the security guard ‘Peter’, encountered by Trevor at this very point?

Why has it been alleged that this footage was significantly ‘enhanced’ in circumstances where the Donal McIntyre documentary, broadcast some years earlier, shows a screen grab of footage similar in standard to that recently released?

Why has there been an attempt by Gardai to suggest that this ‘enhanced’ footage shows that the man in the footage outside Trevor’s workplace was the same man behind him on Haddington Road when an examination of this footage shows nothing to support this?

Why has there been no mention of Trevor’s two colleagues outside the gate before now? As they are standing next to the person of interest could they add more details about him?

Why has the focus, to date, been almost exclusively on the period before, rather than after, Trevor was last seen?

Why has the investigation into his disappearance apparently ignored the possibility that he might have safely returned to his apartment in Ballsbridge on the night in question?

According to Barry Cummins, Trevor’s flatmates were both away on holiday. On the night of Trevor’s disappearance, there was a taxi strike, making it difficult to get into work the next day.

We know that there were difficulties in entering Trevor’s apartment on Monday. When did this entry finally occur and by whom?

Did Gardai carry out a full search of the apartment and what, if anything, was there to convince them that Trevor had not returned home?

And, as highlighted by Trevor’s sister, Michele, why was there no apparent attempt to track his mobile phone following his call to Glen Cullen at Baggot Street Bridge?

Only a few years later, it was reported that signals from child victim Robert Holohan’s mobile phone had led Garda detectives to his body. Both Trevor and Robert Holohan had Nokia phones; one last used in Dublin 2 and the other in Midleton, County Cork. Of the two, one would expect that the Dublin phone would be far easier to trace.

Similarly, in 2004, Joe O’Reilly’s mobile phone records helped police identify him as being in the location of his wife Rachel’s house at the time of her death.Have similar enquiries been carried out in relation to persons associated with Trevor Deely?

And, if not, why not?

Against this context, the words of Michele Deely, resonate:

“I don’t believe people vanish. It makes no sense to me…. it actually starts to hurt your brain when you think about it.”

Previously: A Second Look

A Second Man

Related: Philip Cairns And A Trail Of Disinformation

Update:

Mark and David have posted a new YouTube video containing unreleased still images from the cctv footage here.

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92 thoughts on “Enhanced Confusion

    1. Daz

      It’s unnerving the way they are all staring at the building. It looks like they were either watching something, or waiting for some kind of signal from inside. People are also speculating that one of the men standing outside is the colleague who was working that night. The one who said that Trevor arrived into work soaking. The Garda Síochána should really just release all of the footage because the bits being drip fed are just raising more questions.

    1. ahjayzis

      Why would you presume that? It says in the article that it took a family friend who luckily was a CCTV expert to get the footage from AIB just before it was taped over?

      1. Saturday Night Newsround

        Re CCTV There are different routes he could have taken home, not sure if there’s CCTV along all (any?) of these routes even if guards got it before disposed of.

        Re forensic analysis, you remember how difficult it was to say if Maddie McCann was killed in the apartment (cadaver dogs etc). If stranger DNA in apartment that would be helpful but what if he was killed by someone he knew who could show they’d lawfully visited there before. Or did the police even check?

        The only way police could rule out him being killed in/after returning to apartment would be
        (i) if CCTV in apartment complex which was preserved and cmplete for night (unlikely)
        (ii) if apartment had key that showed time of entry (implausible in that time of apartment in 2000)
        (iii) if in fact there was someone staying in apartment who said he didn’t return home (would want to be checking to see if that person telling the truth)

        The fact there was no evidence of him tidying up/change of clothes doesn’t prove anything as killer could have substituted clothes/messed around apartment strategically (they had lots of time after all) or indeed he could have been killed shortly after re-entering.

  1. Mary Jane

    Very good piece. But there are still questions to be asked?

    1. Who are the two men in the video footage that are supposedly Trevor’s workmates?

    2. Why were they outside the gate?

    3. Were they supposed to be on duty that night?

    4. Why did Trevor take The Haddington Road route home as opposed to the shorter route down Baggot Street and Pembroke Road into Ballsbridge and onto Serpentine Avenue?

    5. Was there a 24 hour Spar shop at the bottom of Bath Avenue in 2000.

    6. If so, Was that the reason Trevor went the Haddington Road way? Namely not turning right at the junction of Haddington and Northumberland but instead going past Beggars Bush in the direction of Bath Avenue

    7. If it was open did he go in to buy something like cigarettes?

    Questions 4 to 7 are relevant in relation to whether he went up Bath Avenue and down by the Dodder or whether he went down Shelbourned Road up Lansdowne and over the Dodder at the footbridge behind Lansdowne Road station using this back way to get to his apartment on Serpentine Avenue quite close to the level crossing

    1. Lilly

      Wasn’t there a 24-hour Spar closer on Upper Baggot street, just before Waterloo Road? The taxi drivers all stop there.

      1. Mary Jane

        I know there is a Spar on Upper Baggot Street but as far as I’m aware this isn’t a 24 hour store. So it comes back to the reason Trevor might have headed down Haddington Road.

        One of the theories widely speculated on was that he may have been attacked, possibly rendered unconscious and pushed into the Dodder (ruling out the canal) There really are only two points where this can occur if you follow his route down Haddington Road (1) Dodder Bank – Bath Avenue to Herbert Road Bridge or (2) In the vicinity of the footbridge behind Lansdowne Road Station if he took this very unusual route back to his home on Serpentine Road.

        Both routes which would have brought him close to the Dodder are highly improbable, given that it was a wet and windy night. One would expect that a man who it would appear wasn’t that drunk (he stopped for coffee in his office and looked at his email) would have gone the most direct route home. But he didn’t, he went down Haddington Road which was unusual. Again I refer to the Spar on Bath Avenue above as a possible reason.

        In light of the evidence that his sister rang his phone over the weekend, the following can be observed

        1. He was never pushed into the Dodder and therefore was not washed out to sea as some still speculate. / or
        2. His phone was taken from him, before he might have been pushed into the Dodder.

        One would assume a body to have floated down the Dodder would have come into contact with the rocks / banks, branches and other debris on the river. The likelihood of it making it out to the Liffey and into Alexandra basin to begin with and then out into the Dublin Bay without surfacing somewhere or washed up along the coast remains an issue. I’m not on expert on this but the Garda Sub-Aqua team or the Coastguard would know the answer to this.

        This then leads to another theory which rules out the Dodder, namely that he accepted a lift on Haddington Road most likely at the junction with Percy place as speculated in the third video by Leroy Blevins. If that was the case the following inferences may be drawn.

        1. He was offered a lift and accepted it

        2. He knew one or more people in the car or vehicle and therefore assumed it was safe.

        3. He didn’t know the people in the car or vehicle but decided to accept it (which is unlikely but not implausible)

        4. There was more than one person in the car or vehicle (possibly two, more likely three, one of whom may have been female to entice him into the vehicle)

        I’m making that assumption, and given Trevor’s size, it is highly unlikely that one person (a driver) could immobilise him. On that assumption, there would have to be more than one – a driver and passenger in the back. It is possible that if Trevor got into the vehicle he might have been in the front passenger seat with someone sitting directly behind him. Of course this is entirely speculative, but if Leroy’s theory applies this seems the most plausible way a guy who who is 6’1 could have been immobilised. The suggestion being that he was garrotted by the passenger sitting behind, somewhat similar to what happened to the fictional Carlo Rizzi in The Godfather.

        The third possible theory that the Timeline mentions above, is that Trevor actually made it home in the early hours of Friday 8th December. If he did, one assumes he would have called into work or at least notified them he wasn’t attending. Trevor from all accounts seems to have been a conscientious employee so one would expect that he would have made some contact with BOIAM that day, but he didn’t.

        One way or another, the Gardai need to release more of the footage which it would appear they have from outside the BOIAM. They also need to identify the employee who went inside after Trevor. Furthermore, more of the footage from Haddington Road needs to be released.

        1. Saturday Night Newsround

          I think the guards also need to release the evidence they have that trevor didn’t return to the apartment, you have done very thorough work on all the possibilities that could have happened if he didnt’ return but to evaluate the reality of these we need clear confirmation that he didnt’ return.

          The most likely explanation is generally the right one.

          Likelihood of 6 foot 1 inch 22 year old man being killed in his own apartment by someone he knows trumps likeihood of 6 foot 1 inch 22 year old man being abducted by car in Dublin 2 any day.

          1. Saturday Night Newsround

            Also. What motive would a random stranger have to garrote Trevor? Tbf.

            Whereas someone in his apartment on Thursday night/Friday, well he might well have had a row with them over something, an unfortunate accident occurred, they panicked and covered up (which they could do so effectively with 2-3 days cover)

            I do not necessarily buy the argument that as a conscientious employee he’d have been at work the next day, they may have been informally told no need to come in, was there evidence B O I even rang his mobile on Friday? It was only his second Christmas party after all and his first while living in Renoir, how can you be so certain he would have come in. He could have arrived home, gone to sleep and got a lift somewhere the next day from someone going out of Dublin for instance. It mentioned he went away a lot at the weekends with groups of friends.

          2. Mary Jane

            To reply to your message about whether he got back to the Apartment on Serpentine Avenue. Yes, it’s possible. The next issue was whether he was killed there or not. If he was, the perpetrator(s) would still have to get the body out of the building and into a vehicle (a boot most likely) and dispose of it. Difficult but not impossible

            If he left voluntarily later that day Friday afternoon / evening, where was the likely destination? One would say the most likely destination was probably Naas. If so how did he get there by bus or by car. Did he travel alone or with someone? Evidently, he told his father on Tuesday 5th December that he would not be down the following weekend (Friday 8th-10th), and yet supposedly he was due to meet his two friends Glen Cullen and Conor Loonan in Fletcher’s pub in Naas on the evening of Saturday 9th December. So, between the 5th -8th December he changed his plans about going to Naas.

            This then raises the specter of whether (1) He went to Naas on Friday 8th or Saturday 9th December (2) Did something happen to him either on the way there or whilst he was there? (3) Was there then a cover-up involving people possibly known to him?

            There are several questions that also need to be clarified first.

            (1) Did his friends raise their concerns about Trevor being missing during that weekend?

            (2) Is there corroborating evidence which demonstrates that friends or family had become aware he was missing over the course of that weekend?

            (3) Did his parents learn from Trevor’s friends that he was missing that weekend and not from the Bank on the Monday as seems to have been reported.

            Again, this is speculative but until there is concrete evidence that positively discounts this one way or another the possibility that Trevor made it down to Naas remains open. If he did make it to Naas, then part of the focus of the investigation must shift.

          3. Saturday Night Newsround

            On the question of whether he was killed in the apartment/getting the body out without knowing, it’s worth noting that some of the Renoir apartments are advertised for sale or rent as having garage areas – in the basement? Most likely a 3 bed would have such an area.

            Regarding making it down to Naas, it’s interesting that Trevor’s disappearance was reported to Gardai in Naas rather than Dublin, one would have thought Dublin would be more appropriate if he was felt to have disappeared there, and given that his dad and brother were both in Dublin that day.

          4. jusayinlike

            Cult activity bearing a strange resemblance to the Philip Cairns case.. the erroneous reporting by RTE, shoddy garda investigation coupled with the absence of a corpse is telling.. the odour of cover up is strong here,

  2. jusayinlike

    It’s worth noting that the family had to collect the cctv footage that picked up Trevor that night, not the gardai..

    1. Scundered

      That’s awful, especially at a time of such high emotion, having to do your own detective work… beggars belief.

  3. kid jensen

    why is there not more coverage of Trevor’s trip to Alaska a month before he dissappeared…

    1. Gers

      There was some. Gardai did travel there and also Trevor sister and a friend did too. Gardai met with the girl in question and it seems he did travel uninvited and the situation was “difficult” – that line of investigation was dropped.

  4. Louis Lefronde

    Hold on. Can you clarify something for me in relation to the first photograph above, is that a person holding an umbrella standing behind the two men at the gate. I’m looking at this on my phone and I’m fairly sure I can make out a figure with an umbrella unless my eyes are playing tricks on me?

  5. Eamonn Clancy

    Powerful piece of work. Here’s my 2 cents; why would a guy return to his office after a night out at such a late hour? The photo of the 3 guys above is chilling but it suggests a rendezvous at a particular time and place, and seems far too organised to be coincidental. As mentioned above, there was a more direct route home, but not taken. Let’s take the Alaskan connection for a moment, what time would it have been in Alaska at the time of Trevor’s return to his office? 5-6pm ish? And is that relevant?

    1. ahjayzis

      He went in for an umbrella didn’t he? Storm, taxi strike, office nearby with umbrellas / a bit of shelter?

  6. Devine

    I wonder, did he sneak something like a document out of the office in order to give someone? They might have picked him up on Haddington Road, promised him a lift home, drove him somewhere else and bumped him.

    The theory might be far fetched, but there are question marks as to why he went to his computer. If he was just going to collect an umbrella it would have been a quick in and out job.

  7. Shane

    The awful truth is that a family may never find out what happened to their son. Is there assumption foul play was involved? Could he have fallen into the canal or river (leaning over to get sick or maybe he thought he saw something)? Unfortunately, we may never know the truth

    1. Brother Barnabas

      yes

      And the recent emergence of new information / clarity likely makes it even worse for them – particularly the strong suggestion that there was someone else involved. (unless it leads to case being solved, of course)

    2. Cian

      unlikely – the Garda sub-aqua team searched both. If it were the canal the body would still be there. If it were the river it would be washed downstream. I doubt if it would remain hidden.

  8. sparkilicious

    Good piece – keep up the work. I find it really baffling that the Gardai have apparently said just today that the two people in the footage were previously identified as TD’s workmates. How were they identified? It’s hard to fathom why they were standing outside their workplace gate at 3.37am on a wet night with one of them looking through the gate in the direction TD had entered a minute or two previously. Were they at the party? Did they walk from Buck’s with Trevor? Why did they stay outside BOAM in the rain? Why is one of them standing almost side by side with the unidentified person, with both of them – sort of chillingly- looking through the gate in the same direction that TD had walked a short time previously? If they were waiting for TD to pick up an umbrella why did he dally in work for 30 minutes? Why have they not featured in any journalistic accounts previously? Why, as part of this latest appeal, have gardai not disclosed what the two “co-workers” recollected about the unidentified person at the gate, if only to narrow things a little for the public – it defies belief that these two co-workers were not able to put a rough age and description on the unidentified person that they stood very close to for at least a minute as they waited outside BOAM for some unidentified purpose.

    This case just gets weirder and weirder. Several journos have made fair efforts to make inroads into the whole mystery but it seems like no one account is remotely close to complete. Even taking account of the passage of time, there are errors and inconsistencies everywhere- McIntyre with the footage, the IT with timelines etc. Maybe the IT could do a follow up piece using this “new” info as a starting point- interviews with these two co-workers could surely only add to what has been published previously.

  9. Adam Byrne

    There’s something very weird going on here. We are not being told the full truth.

    I’m not sure who Mark and David are apart from being filmmakers but they have revealed a new still image today which I have never seen before in their short 35 second video. It is 19 seconds in and the 2nd man on the left is way closer to the 1st man in black (the suspicious guy) than he was in the previously released frame (where they were both staring through the gate). Surely the man on the left (BOIAM employee according to the police) can provide a much clearer description on the suspicious guy than had previously been released?

    Furthermore, in this new image the 3rd man in the background with the umbrella appears way clearer in this image than any I have seen before. Apparently he is also a BOIAM employee but it’s hard to know what to believe at this stage. Mark and David where are you getting these new images?

    Surely the full and unedited footage from all CCTV cameras should be released now? Or is this footage being held back for operational reasons which could possibly mean a breakthrough is imminent? If not, why is it being held back and why can’t the two (alleged) BOIAM employees give a better description of the highly suspicious guy in black at the extreme right of screen?

  10. Brother Barnabas

    isn’t there another (4th) person turned sideways at the almost extreme left of the image – can almost make out his hairline

    1. Spaghetti Hoop

      I thought that too. The shape is not a pillar or shadow.
      Blevins’s work has been really thorough – and he is working on only snippets of copied footage. I am hoping this level of analysis exists in the investigation team. If not, hire Blevins.
      As someone rightly said, the only hope now is rattling someone enough to come forward with information.

    2. Robert

      I can’t see it – can you say where in relation to the letters and numbers in the top left?

      1. Brother Barnabas

        Directly above the “8” of “FRI 08-12-00”

        There’s light coming through what seem to be legs and the pillar, and, if you enlarge the photo and zoom, you can definitely make out facial features and hairline.

  11. Robert

    Just on that last point – around why the phone couldn’t have been used to locate Trevor, but was for Robert Holohon and Joe O’Reilly … I think it’s plausible that it simply wasn’t available. The years between 2000 and 2004 are an eternity in terms of the development of the mobile phone network. I’d say that information would have been available but it’s likely there was no policy around collection and retention. Could even be that these policies were put in place arising from the Trever Deeley case. If this information was available it may have only been recorded for diagnostic purposes and even then just for a number of days …

    1. Jimmy Ireland

      +1 – “Only a few years later” the article states. A few years is an eternity in mobile technology. And phones are much more difficult to track off masts in a crowded built up area due to the frequency that a mobile will change cell. It could ping off 10 cells in Dublin 2 in a wide and varied area due to signal reflection on buildings and water. In somewhere like Cork with cells spaced out it may only ping off two cells for a long period of time with the signal strength recorded giving reasonably good triangulation.

    2. Gers

      What they could have obtain from the network operator was the last transmitting station Trevor phone was attached to. Problem is, in 2000 I would imagine there were only very few of this transmitting stations, even in Dublin but it could be crucial if T ‘s phone was seen attached to a station not in the area where he worked or lived….

      1. Robert

        You know what … they would have had this information centrally for the purposes of routing calls as long as the phone was accepting calls, and even for a period afterwards. Long gone now however.

        1. Gers

          Long gone? I wouldnt say so. Its not uncommon for logs in IT companies to be kept for a long time, certainly be interesting to dig into that if it was possible,

          1. Robert

            Trust me in this case it would be very uncommon – and in the off chance that it were there somewhere you’d have to sift through billions of records to find it. This is Telecomms not IT; the economics of what gets stored and what doesn’t are wildly different.

  12. ahjayzis

    Is this piece saying there’s a possibility he made it home that night – but something happened between then and Monday, as opposed to on the night of the party? Maybe he was just too hungover for work on the Friday, then something happened him over the weekend?

  13. sparkilicious

    Robert Blevins’ video is fascinating. He makes a plausible case for the following:

    – 3.25am TD leaves Buck’s and is lured to BOIAM rather than do the more obvious thing of just heading home. The bait could be a notification (by text?phone call?) that he has an email waiting for him that he should check at work before the morning. He might also have been lured in some other way, perhaps through a phone conversation he has with the person he is seen talking to on his phone in the footage from Camera 1 at 3.35am (his friend Glen did not get a voicemail til 3.55am or 4.05am)

    – The first man in black (MIB1) is definitely waiting for TD near BOIAM. He waits in the rain for about 30 minutes before TD’s arrival. He knows where the cameras are and does his best to hide his face while he is waiting. He gets a phone call from someone just before TD’s arrival at BOIAM tipping him off about TD’s imminent arrival. Whoever makes this call has probably been following TD from Buck’s.

    – TD walks past MIB1 at the Camera 1 position and stops just short of coming fully into view on Camera 2, where the gate to BOIAM is. He may still be on the mobile call or have stopped for some other reason. MIB1 walks past TD and stands tight to the gate to BOIAM. He is certain that TD is also going to approach the gate. He does not know TD and TD does not know him, hence the short conversation instigated by MIB1 to make sure he has a clear picture of TD’s face (so he knows he has the right person later?).

    – When TD comes back through the gate about 30 minutes later, having been in BOIAM and sent an email, there is no-one left in shot at Camera 2. However, TD veers to the right and tilts his head as if talking to someone out of shot and then heads away to the left.

    – The man in black who is seen in footage following after TD on Haddington Road ten minutes later (MIB2) is not MIB1. MIB2 is slimmer than MIB1 and, unlike MIB1, MIB2 has a beard. If TD was snatched, it was not near the scene of the Haddington Road footage, as a couple and a young girl are following relatively closely behind MIB 2. Unlike MIB1, RB seems much less confident that MIB2 had any particular interest in TD.

    -The fact that TD’s phone rang for up to 10 days after his disappearance means he did not drown. He was not robbed because robbers don’t hang around to deal with the person they have attacked. He wasn’t kidnapped because there was no ransom note. He did not disappear of his motion because he was a responsible kind of guy and felt strong obligations to his family. The fact that his phone stayed contactable means he was probably within range of mobile masts for days after his disappearance but he was not in an obvious public location in Dublin City given the sweep done by US agents a few days after his disappearance in anticipation of Clinton’s visit to Ireland.

    – Ultimately RB seems to suggest that the most likely theory is that TD was followed by more than one person with nefarious intent and probably taken by them at some point closer to his home rather than his work.

    Further thoughts:

    – I wonder what RB would make of the “new” footage of TD’s “co-workers” (2, possibly 3, of them in addition to MIB1) from shortly after TD entered the gate of BOIAM.

    – There is surely a very strong case at this stage for the gardai/family to release all of the CCTV footage in their possession. All they have to do is create an internet link for those interested enough to trawl through it. On a number of occasions RB decries the fact that the footage he had access to has been snipped.

    – It strikes me that matters that the gardai/TD’s family think are of no particular relevance seem very important to RB. For example, there are reports that TD’s family have described the email he sent/received from work as “inconsequential”, yet RB thinks this could be very important. More broadly, it raises the question of how much info should be put into the pubic domain in appeals such as this. I understand that the gardai are the “professionals” and that there may be privacy considerations for witnesses etc. but if the family really want to get to the bottom of it, why not create a website and put as much info on it as possible on it and allow the likes of people like RB to get stuck in, especially when the gardai have had no luck to date?

    – Another point that stuck in my head watching the video was that TD told is co-worker inside BOIAM that he would see him on Monday, not Friday. Also, he had told his family he would not be down to Kildare that weekend. It’s as though he had some sort of plan of his own for the weekend – whether the plan was formed in conjunction with people with a nefarious intent that TD had no knowledge of is another question.

    – The trip to Alaska a month or two before always struck me as odd – an expensive place to get to at the best of times and an odd time of year to go. Yes, perhaps he was smitten by the girl he apparently went to see but another hanging thread in the case.

    – As RB says more than once, the mobile phone records are crucial and would be a major source of information. Are the gardai/family sure that all has been done that can be done in this regard?

  14. Devine

    Releasing the footage is critical. At this point in time, the public have only been getting drips and drabs which in itself raises questions about the manner in which the Gardai are treating this case. Regarding mobile phone records, there are a couple of important questions Did Trevor have a pay-as-you-go phone or was it bill pay? Do the phone operators still have records going back to December 2000?

    1. Robert

      They would almost certainly have examined the billing records as a part of the investigation. They would have known who he called and at what time. Unlike the information relating to location, this would have been diligently recorded and stored because €€€, and should have been available for months if not years afterwards.

  15. Saturday Night Newsround

    Trevor’s family acted VERY quickly on Monday, it seems like there may have been some worry about his whereabouts already? It’s a big thing to cancel work and drive up from Castlebar immediately without even checking in the apartment first? His dad said he wouldn’t have rung him on Friday but what about Saturday and Sunday? Also, it’s interesting that Glenn went to the garda station in Naas with Mark Deely – presumably this was to say he was the last person who heard from Trevor, or maybe that he was to meet him on Saturday but he hadn’t turned up?

    I don’t really understand why we are given some things but not others, wouldn’t it be better to give the full picture, certainly at this stage when all leads appear to be exhausted? Hard to help if there’s no clarity. Regarding limited information disclosure being the criteria for all missing person enquiries, well how’s that working out for the Gardai? Not too well it seems.

    There seems to be three different things there are discrepancies/uncertainties about regarding the information in the public domain:
    (i) the Alaska trip, in the Rosita Boland article there’s a distinct caginess about this, on the part of Glenn/Mr Deely/Mark Deely. Also he did disappear right after coming back in fair
    (ii) the apartment, I mean he was heading back there, nothing unotward seen by passers by, the guy behind him not particularly unusual for Baggot St area at night, it was a wet and windy night so not really the night to be going on partying, the presumption to me is that he got there unless there’s evidence to the contrary, there may be but we haven’t been told that evidence, a relevant question would be how long the apartment was undisturbed for i.e. when they finally got in, a bit vague about that too, doesn’t say when they got in, whether Michael Deely got the guards to break in or whether Trevor’s brother went in when he went to Ballsbridge to look for him. Trevor could have been sick or dying inside for all they knew? If a family member of mine were missing I’d definitely want to check their apartment first.
    (iii) the Monday, like I said the Deelys were very quick to act, it was like they were ready to act on Monday if phoned to say he hadn’t arrived in work.
    (iv) the garda footage, I mean the fella outside looks like a security guard to me (badge?) the other long fella (the employee) has glasses like Pender, who had to go and do something when Trevor arrived. Trevor’s demenaous to him is a bit like a security guard/employee situation too. Regarding two different employees arriving at the office, that doesn’t work because Karl Pender in the Rosita interview said he was amazed t see trevor, it was very unusual for someone to come back to the office after a night out, so I reckon the two employeees must be pender out to collect the post and the guy/girl with the umberella after handing it to them rather than two completely different employees. Was the third guy Peter the security guard? Pender would know (as would Peter!)

    Often in these cases the most obvious explanation is the correct one, the obvious explanation (without wild fantasies) is that Trevor got home, and something happened to him between Thursday night and Saturday night (I don’t necessarily buy the story that employees went back in on Friday, I bet they didn’t) what do we know to contradict this?

    1. twistedmindonsat

      “Hard to help if there’s no clarity”

      NOONE wants the help of some deluded wannabe Holmes.

      1. Saturday Night Newsround

        Sweetheart, it’s not about whether people want the help of those commenting on this story.

        It’s about trying to find out what is going on in this country we live in.

        1. twistedmindonsat

          Your “reckoning ” on an internet forum is hardly up there with Watergate. I would also like to remind you that there is a family involved and you seem to be both lacking in respect and empathy for all those concerned.

          PS: I will ignore your term of endearment . Broadsheet is NOT that kind of forum .

          1. Saturday Night Newsround

            With respect, and no terms of endearment this time:-

            (i) there have been a significant number of disappearances of persons throughout Ireland over the past 30 years which remain unsolved to this day
            (ii) periodically, the Gardai resurrect these disappearances with new theories, none of which ever lead anywhere and often which don’t even make sense.
            (iii) no explanation is given when holes are pointed out in the theories and discussion is invariably shut down out of respect to family members
            (iv) various inquiries have shown us that there are serious concerns about how the Gardai operate
            (iv) an individual is not just a member of a family, they have value in their own right as a human being and they also form part of a community
            (v) it is in the interests of that community to look after its members (both past members, who may have come to harm, and future members, to stop similar harm occurring again to others). This involves asking questions about people who disappear, even where such questions may be upsetting to their families.

          2. twistedmindonsat

            There is a big difference between questioning the actual evidence that is available and a treasure trove of innuendo. A quick scan of your comments would indicate the latter.
            FYI .Below is an example of “innuendo”.
            “Trevor could have been sick or dying inside for all they knew? If a family member of mine were missing I’d definitely want to check their apartment first.”

            PS: you assumed that I was a woman initially , hence the passive aggressive use of the word “sweetheart”. You have now assumed ( and rightly) that I am a man and so have adopted a more respectful tone? Is that innuendo/question/fact?

          3. Saturday Night Newsround

            I think the innuendo is your imagination rather the mine.

            It just seems that everyone assumed he didn’t go back to the apartment. I am not suggesting any improper motive for this, just that it seems to have been a universal assumption, why this assumption was made however was never indicated.

            Sometimes problems are not solved because of a mistaken assumption, which in hindsight appears something which was obviously overlooked. Merely pointing out that it seems to be something which jumps out as odd.

            I’m just curious as to whether or not this could be the case here.

          4. Saturday Night Newsround

            Oops, no not assuming that you are male or female, how on earth would that make a difference?

            The ‘sweetheart’ was in reference to the username adopted by you ‘twisted mind on Sat’ which appeared to be a dig at my username.

          5. Adam Byrne

            I think it’s pointless people coming on here trying to censor debate.

            Why are they qualified to do so and where do they draw the (their) lines?

            I have seen very productive and smart conversations about this case closed down (and totally disappeared) from boards.ie and reddit etc – just because some over-zealous ‘moderator’ thinks she/he is the bastion of decency (but certainly not the bastion of free speech).

            No one is on here trying to insult or upset the family of the missing chap.

            And if anyone indulged in such repugnant behaviour then I’m sure they would be called out for it and banned or whatever.

            The fact is Trevor disappeared in very mysterious circumstances and I for one feel that there is more to the story and that the investigation has not been carried out to its fullest extent by the Irish police.

            Someone, somewhere does know something about what happened and these sorts of discussions could be helpful in drawing those facts (or them) out – I have a feeling that the family might even agree with that.

            Again no one (or no one normal) wants to cause the family any more pain than that have already endured (and are still enduring).

            Anyone who wants to play censor to people’s free and constructive speech on here might be better advised to just close their browser and move on. It’s not about that, it’s about finding the truth, and finding the missing person, if possible.

  16. Saturday Night Newsround

    Basically before we go off on crazy tangents about robberies at BOI Asset Management etc let’s look for the obvious things:-

    (i) how do we know he didn’t get home? flatmates? they were away. no sign of the clothes he wore? worn by him that night/the following day when he was killed? forensics? if he left to be killed the next day, then there would be no one else/s dna there, if he was killed in the apartment, there would presumably be other DNA there, but what if it was someone who had previously been in the aprtment? there would of course also possibly be blood but these depends on how he died. security cameras? well there don’t appear to have been any along the route? I note there is an AIB bank link beside the horse show house and presumably a security camera above it but he may not have gone that route, he could also have gone down lansdowne road, up herbert road or even through the Dodder rat run. If the guards know he didn’t get home let them say why? perhaps there is no unknown DNA in the partment, perhaps no blood and perhaps also his 70s clothes are not there making it unlikely he would have arrived home (since he probably wouldn’t have worn it the next day) but what if he was killed without blood in the apartment by someone who was a visitor there either on Thursday or Friday
    (ii) if it’s not possible to rule out him having been killed in the apartment (and I’m not sure how it would be possible to do this with his flatmates away) then the question arises as to who could have been in the apartment that night or the next day, probably someone already known to him? Has this possibility been considered?

  17. Mary Jane

    Ok. Since my first message, a couple of points have been clarified but a few more raised. According to an IT article one of his friends said he smoked a Benson & Hedges or Marbro lights. This lends weight to the theory that he went down Haddington Road in order to go to the Euro spa shop on Bath Avenue possibly to buy cigarettes.

    I think that it is unlikely that he was mugged by a random stranger and then thrown into the Dodder and washed out to sea.

    It’s possible that he was invited to take a lift In the car by someone a knew or implausibly by a stranger. One would half to ask what was the motive to abduct and potentially kill Trevor if that’s what happened to him? At least to my knowledge there are no other known cases of a random male individual disappearing off the streets of Dublin that was not involved or associated with organised criminal activity.

    There are certainly question marks over exactly what people knew or suspected over the weekend the 8th to 10 December 2000?

  18. sparkilicious

    From the bits and bobs I’ve read here and elsewhere since last posting, the following stand out for me:

    – I don’t think there is a fourth person on the very left of the picture at 3.37am, but I could be wrong.

    – As regards the two additional men in the same still, it seems the one apparently standing beside MIB1 was a BOIAM employee who had been at the same party and actually came through the gate and picked up a bag in BOIAM before joining his co-worker holding the umbrella and the two then headed towards Rathmines. I’m not sure of the source for this, but I read it in a comment by “Darren Connolly” under one of Blevins’ videos on youtube. Gardai apparently spoke to the men and eliminated them from their enquiries. If this is true, I’m still bemused at the lack of mention of them in any of the journalistic narratives that have been produced to date. It means they were just a minute or two behind Trevor coming into BOIAM at a very irregular hour and were in very close proximity to MIB1. Why have we never heard of their observations/testimony in the same way that Karl Pender has always been part of the narrative? This point reinforces the need to just release all of the footage in the possession of the Gardai/family.

    – A more recent comment earlier in this thread by “Gers” suggests the Alaska line of enquiry was pursued and that it emerged that TD had turned up in Alaska uninvited and that this resulted in a “difficult” situation. This may have been conveyed in the IT piece but I missed it if it was. Even taking account of the fact that people can act erratically in affairs of the heart, it strikes me as odd behaviour. What frame of mind was he in to travel all that way uninvited and, perhaps more pertinently, how did he feel in the aftermath of what seems like an unfortunate situation in which it was made clear to him in Alaska that he was not really welcome there? I’d have thought this experience would have left him in a vulnerable enough place around the time of his disappearance and partying hard does not usually alleviate such vulnerability.

    – If the theory that MIB1 was at the centre of a plan to snatch/do away with Trevor is not to be given credit, the spotlight then falls on the rest of the weekend. There is a relative dearth of information on what was/wasn’t found at his apartment and there are any number of ways in which people could disappear in a three day period.

    – As regards the snarky “Sherlock”, “Watergate” comments from those posters who apparently don’t want anything but the most polite and anodyne discussion of the case, I’m sure TD’s family are delighted at your prissy, self-righteous attempts to close down any observations and debate. I think it’s a fair bet the family welcome absolutely any thoughts (even those that pose difficult questions for them), as you never know what amateurish observations might cause a professional investigator who is stale looking at the same narrative to revisit some point or other. I know my interest in this stems largely from the fact that I’m about the same age TD would be know and remember the case vividly and wish him and his family all the best. But even a thought from some voyeur lacking any empathy is better than radio silence, if even to discount a particular suggestion.

    1. Adam Byrne

      You are right about the self-made censors ‘sparkilicious’.

      No one on here is hurling insults so what’s their point in trying to close down free speech?

      Anyway, back to the case – I wonder where on earth ‘Darren Connolly’ got that information from.

      It seems like key information, even if they were eliminated from the enquiries, didn’t they get a good look at the MIB on the right of our screens?

      The journalistic coverage of this particular aspect also bemuses me.

  19. Devine

    It seems to me the whole point of releasing the videos was to generate a conversation among members of the public to shed light on the case that remains unsolved.

    The cops do not enjoy a monopoly of wisdom nor success when it comes to cases such as this. And there is an issue about their competence while conducting the initial investigation.

    Occasionally, it is the members of the public who think outside the box and think differently that come up with suggestions or solutions that solve problem cases.

    When a person goes missing in a public place, then it is a matter of public concern. Sometimes,this will lead to new lines of enquiry and inevitably the asking of uncomfortable questions. However, if those questions and observations shed light on the unsolved disappearance of Trevor Dealy then they must be explored.

    The old chestnut of ‘what about the family?’ being pushed as a tactic to close down discussion is a well worn path and one which has been successfully deployed by PR consultants in the past.
    Twistedmindonsat’ seems to want to close down the conversation – I would say that approach is wrong. If anything the conversation needs to continue, even if some observations are speculative

  20. Redline

    Bunch of parasitic weirdoes speculating on gruesome case. Try getting a real job headcases.

  21. Pat Harding

    Redline….Nice to read the one and only comment you’ve ever made on Broadsheet….

  22. Pat Harding

    I looked at the image using Adobe Lightroom and there is not a 4th person standing sideways in the photo.

    Focus then switches back to the identity of the three men in the image. Just out of curiosity were there any photographs taken of Trevor at that Christmas party?

  23. Spaghetti Hoop

    The jacket on MIB1 is very familiar to me of that time as I acquired one for someone: and it’s black polyester with a large blue section over the chest and back, insulated thinly but very puffed-out externally. Reflectable in the rain, imported and branded with a company logo on the wearer’s left – I can see a triangle in the video still. I know it has a light synthetic hood concealed in the collar which is clearly unzipped and blown out from its collar on MIB1 to his right. Not surprising, given the night’s weather.

    None of us are Sherlock Holmes, alas though it brings out such; not for devilment or personal gain, but simply because human minds naturally seek answers. Snippets of public information and civilian deduction have solved crimes in the past, and the Gardaí should not so arrogant to dismiss the public intelligence, given that it so free and available.

    Videos need to be released in full so that the so far 60 positive calls to the Gardaí are increased. PLUS, I hope that the investigation is with the local station to Trevor Deely’s disappearance and not Naas – which never made sense to me as a starting point for the missing person statement. Naas would have less of a head start than Dublin.

    I’ve asked some hard-balls on what drove them to confess; torture or conscience. The latter, in this century is predominately the case. 17 years is not the 31 in the Cairns case – so there is a greater chance that the unquestioned guys in the video are alive and will volunteer. Until then, it is still a missing persons, not a murder case.

  24. Paddy

    There is something I noticed in the latest updated still images released by Ponta Six on YouTube. The guy who is supposedly a colleague is initially seen closer to the mystery man and possibly talking to him. 36 seconds later he is standing further away from him but also further away from the latch. If he was merely there to collect a bag, as has been claimed, wouldn’t he be near the latch trying to open the gate to get in and out to get the bag and go? Instead, he is aeen staring ahead into the premises with the other man. Surely he’d want to get in as quick as possible for his and his friend’s sake. Instead he is nowhere near the latch after at least 36 seconds, possibly more, and is getting wet. Are we sure these guys are colleagues? If only we had all the footage to see.

    1. Paddy

      Just an update on this. David Connolly tells me on YouTube that the colleague was waiting to be buzzed in, and that Trevor rang Karl ahead of entering to get him buzzed in. Makes sense, as Trevor had replaced the chain on the gate. Still no valid reason, in my view, as to why the footage was held onto for so long.

  25. Peter Dempsey

    I think they went to Naas because they had come back from Dublin after initially checking apartment. Perhaps the family were more comfortable dealing with local Gardai that they probably knew anyway.

      1. Adam Byrne

        No I won’t. Not a lot i can do from here in Tobago. Even you guys closer to home can’t do much except try to see or think of something that has been overlooked, especially given the passage of time. I still feel the police are holding something back and you would hope that means it’s a positive lead. Paramount in my thoughts is for the family to find out what happened to their son. It’s just not fair that they are left in limbo like this.

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