The Ditch can reveal that convicted rapist Larry Murphy’s childhood home is just 250 metres from the quarry being searched in the Deirdre Jacob and Jo Jo Dullard murder investigations.
Murphy’s late mother owned the house on nearly an acre of land till she sold it in 2006.
Meanwhile it can also be revealed that Murphy grew up two-and-a-half kilometres from the son of an ex-Fine Gael politician arrested on suspicion of Dullard’s murder.
Garda forensic teams have spent more than a week searching the quarry at Castleruddery Upper in county Wicklow after a witness claimed Murphy had buried vehicles at the site.
The 61-year-old was convicted in 2001 of the rape and attempted murder of a Carlow woman and is the main suspect in the 1998 disappearance of Deirdre Jacob.
Murphy is also a suspect in the 1995 disappearance of Jo Jo Dullard.
However the now 57-year-old son of a deceased Fine Gael politician – who lives a five-minute drive from Murphy’s childhood home – was arrested on suspicion of her murder in November 2024 and later released without charge.
Dullard’s family say they were the victims of a state-sponsored smear campaign as part of efforts by gardaí and senior politicians to protect her alleged killer.
