Plea to find body of murdered Sunderland soldier Robert Nairac on anniversary of his killing

Captain Robert Nairac, who was brought up in Thornhill Gardens, Ashbrooke, Sunderland, was executed by the IRA early on May 15, 1977, after he was kidnapped from a staunchly Catholic pub while working undercover during Northern Ireland’s bloody Troubles.

None of the six men convicted of involvement in the murder have ever revealed what happened to the Grenadier Guard’s remains.

Investigators have also repeatedly discounted rumours that the 28-year-old’s body was fed to an industrial mincer.

Now Geoff Knupfer, the lead investigator for the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains (ICLVR), has made a fresh plea for information on the murder’s 43rd anniversary.

He said: “All information would be treated in the strictest of confidence and we are not allowed to pass it on to any other authorities.

“This is a humanitarian process, not a criminal one. It is about returning a missing person to his family members for a proper burial.”

Captain Nairac reputedly sang Republican songs in the Three Steps pub, in Dromintee, South Armagh, on May 14, 1977, before he was abducted and executed across the border in the Republic of Ireland.

Mr Knupfer believes his body is buried in the vast County Louth countryside close to the murder scene.

He added: “It seems unlikely, given the security in the area at the time, that they would have taken his body a long way because it would have been dangerous for them.

“We are guessing he is in the general area of the Ravensdale Valley.

“We have no particular location to search at the moment.

“The moment we do and it stacks up in terms of intelligence and information then we would begin a search and the governments would be happy to sanction that.”

Captain Nairac, whose family lived in Sunderland for around 20 years, is one of only three of the Troubles’ so-called Disappeared whose remains are still missing.

The ICLVR can be contacted on 00800 55585500 or via email at [email protected].

A £20,000 Crimestoppers reward is also on offer with further information available at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.

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