Gardai investigating the disappearance of a number of women in the Wicklow/Kildare/ Carlow area over several years are expected to question Larry Murphy, who was sentenced to 15 years yesterday for the abduction, rape and attempted murder of a woman in February last year.
Gardai from Operation Trace, which was set up in 1998 to investigate cases of missing women, are now expected to apply to the courts to question Murphy.
Murphy (36), from Baltinglass, attacked his victim in a car-park in Carlow town. He punched her and forced her into the boot of his car where he stripped her. He drove for nearly nine miles out of Carlow before stopping to rape the woman on a dirt track.
He then bundled her back into the boot and drove 14 miles into the Wicklow Mountains where he raped her again. He placed a plastic bag over her head and tied a gag around her mouth. He was in the process of strangling her when two local hunters drove down the lane. He panicked and drove off.
Mr Ken Jones and Mr Trevor Moody were described by a senior Garda officer as "heroes" whose intervention undoubtedly saved her life. Mr Jones recognised Murphy, who lived at Stratford outside Baltinglass, only a few miles from the scene of the attack.
The woman was badly traumatised by the incident and said she believed she was about to be killed. She was unable to give evidence in court.
Murphy, who was married with two young children, had never come to the attention of the Garda before his arrest.