What Happened to Trevor Deely?

Nineteen years have gone by since anyone saw a young Irish man named Trevor Deely. On the night of 7^th December 2000 he attended his work Christmas party in Dublin and simply vanished. His family have no solid clues and no sightings to pin their hopes on, and no idea if they will ever see him again.

Trevor was just 22 years old at the time of his disappearance. He was born on 15^th August 1978 and he was the youngest of four siblings. Trevor grew up in Naas, Co Kildare, and moved to Dublin when he took up a computer course. In May 1999 he started work in the IT Department of the Bank of Ireland.

On the night he vanished, along with his colleagues he went to the Hilton Hotel on Charlemont Place to celebrate the festive season. After the company ‘do,” he and some of his work friends decided to continue the night in Buck Whaleys nightclub on Lower Leeson Street. At around 3.30am on the morning of 8^th December 2000, Trevor left and started walking towards his flat on Serpentine Avenue in Ballsbridge, a suburb of Dublin. He never arrived home.

It was raining heavily that night and there was a taxi strike, and so Trevor made his way to his office building across from Leeson Street Bridge. CCTV footage released by the police showed Trevor interacting with a man outside the gates of the Bank of Ireland Asset Management Building. Just seconds before their brief chat Trevor had walked past this man who had been standing in the rain beside a pillar around the corner for half an hour. Was he waiting for Trevor? Was it a pre-arranged meeting? After speaking with this man Trevor went inside the gates of his place of work, locking them behind him.

He then spent half an hour inside his office, and had a hot drink with a colleague, Karl Pender, who was working a late shift. He also checked his emails and made a list of tasks he needed to perform the next day. Trevor then took an umbrella from the office and left, heading towards Baggot Street Bridge, presumably to continue his walk home. Karl Pender was the last known person to see Trevor all those years ago. At around this time, Trevor was known to have made a phone call to a friend back home in Naas. A voicemail that he left for him told his friend that he missed him, all was good and he would call him back later in the day. Sadly that voicemail was deleted and the police made no effort to retrieve it.

The last possible sighting of Trevor Deely was captured by CCTV in Haddington Road at about 4.14am, which shows a man walking past the AIB Bank with an umbrella. This footage was enhanced in 2017 and is now known to definitely be Trevor, as the logo on the umbrella matches the one taken from his office. Police have also established that a man in dark clothing passes this camera about 34 seconds after Trevor goes by and appears to be following him. The Police believe that this is the same man who was seen speaking to Trevor outside his workplace. This man has never come forward or been identified, despite numerous TV appeals. Trevor’s case has been featured on news items and TV programmes over the last number of years, but to no avail.

When Trevor failed to show at work the next day, no one thought anything of it as it had been a very late night. His flatmates were away for the weekend and they had no idea that he had not arrived home after his Christmas night out. It was only when he didn’t appear at work on the Monday morning that it was established that no one had seen or spoken to him since Thursday night. The alarm was then raised, but valuable time and possible information and clues were lost.

In the intervening years Trevor’s sister Michele has called the situation a ‘relentless nightmare’ and has made personal appeals on many occasions. At the time of his disappearance an extensive search of the area was made, and the River Dodder and Grand Canal were thoroughly examined. Potential witnesses were hard to track down, but dozens of night workers and party goers were interviewed. Not a single piece of information was worth pursuing. In 2016 a full cold case review was carried out, but yet again nothing new came of it.

Finally in 2017, Police thought they had maybe benefitted from a breakthrough when an informant came forward. This informant told of how Trevor had become involved in an argument with a notorious drug dealing gang and had been murdered on the night he disappeared. The informant advised a search of a wooded area in Chapelizod, approximately 9 kilometres away from where Trevor was last seen. Despite the discovery of a gun and a significant amount of drugs, no connection was made to the disappearance of Trevor Deely, and the search was called off in the September of 2017. Once again Trevor’s family were left with no closure on how their son/brother had simply vanished.

At the time of writing this piece ( December 8^th 2019, exactly nineteen years since Trevor was last seen) there may finally be some new information. A month ago a potential witness came forward. This witness has not been identified by the Police, but it has been disclosed that their information supports the theory that Trevor was murdered after an argument with a criminal gang. A senior source describes this witness as ‘highly significant’ and it is hoped that a conclusion may be reached at last and his family may find some peace. His brother Mark has said that he still holds out hopes that one day Trevor will walk through the door.

On the 19th anniversary of Trevor’s disappearance, police announced an appeal and urged anybody with any information, to please come forward. Crimestoppers is still offering a reward for anyone with information relating to the disappearance of Trevor Deely. They can be contacted anonymously if desired on 1800 25 00 25.

Footnotes: