Gardaí investigating the murder of Waterford woman Meg Walsh are to prepare a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions after last night releasing without charge a man arrested for questioning about her killing.
Officers arrested the man at a house in Waterford city yesterday morning just after 9am and brought him to Waterford Garda station at Ballybricken for questioning about the murder of 35-year-old Ms Walsh.
Supt Dave Sheahan of Waterford Garda station confirmed yesterday morning that the man, in his 40s, was arrested under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 which allows gardaí hold suspects for an initial period of six hours.
Gardaí extended the man's period of detention for a second period of six hours shortly after 3pm and officers continued to question him until 9pm when his period of detention expired and he was released without charge.
According to a senior Garda source, the man was arrested after gardaí felt that they had progressed their investigation to a point where certain information which they had gathered had to be put to the suspect.
According to the source, the man was one of a handful of possible suspects identified by gardaí following Ms Walsh's disappearance on October 1st, even though at that stage gardaí were still treating the matter as a missing persons case.
However, following the discovery of Ms Walsh's body in the River Suir last Sunday and the emergence of certain evidence over the past week, gardaí narrowed their focus of suspicion and moved yesterday morning to arrest the man.
While there was no dramatic single breakthrough in the Garda investigation, the accumulation of evidence brought gardaí to believe it was opportune to arrest the man and question him about Ms Walsh's death.
It is understood that gardaí made considerable progress through examination of CCTV footage of Ms Walsh's silver Mitsubishi Carisma at various locations in Waterford city after the last confirmed sighting of Ms Walsh at 6am on October 1st.
The arrival of specialist sniffer dogs from the UK with the capability to detect minute human blood and fluid deposits also proved crucial in identifying further areas for forensic analysis by Garda technical experts.
It is understood that gardaí are awaiting the results of specialised forensic tests by a laboratory in Birmingham using a technique called Low Copy Number (LCN) testing where DNA evidence can be identified from extremely small samples.
Gardaí were yesterday continuing to search a number of locations identified by the sniffer dogs along the northern bank of the Suir to try and find blood traces that would confirm where Ms Walsh's body was dumped.
Garda divers also continued to search stretches of the River Suir in an effort to locate Ms Walsh's car keys and mobile phone as well as the blunt instrument that the killer used to bludgeon Ms Walsh to death.
Meanwhile, gardaí yesterday vacated Ms Walsh's home at Dunavarra, Ballinakill Downs, after forensic experts completed a second examination of the house. The dwelling has now been returned to Ms Walsh's husband, John O'Brien.
