Told Gardai he knew where body was buried

A man sparked a major garda search when he claimed he knew where a missing man was buried in an attempt to get bail. 

Robert Dwane, 29, of 25 Mountainview, Portlaoise appeared before Portlaoise District Court charged with giving gardai a false report at Portlaoise Garda Station on March 29, 2021.

Solicitor Barry Fitzgerald said his client was “coming down off heroin” and provided the false information out of “desperation” to get bail. 

“Clearly the information he gave wasn’t correct,” said Mr Fitzgerald. He said his client was in custody and had a release date in January 2025. 

Garda Sergeant JJ Kirby described the missing person case as “very high profile” and said the missing man was a Mr Delaney. He said the man claimed to know the location of his body. 

“There was a huge amount of resources used by the guards,” said Sgt Kirby. 

“It all turned out to be false,” he explained. 

He said the defendant has 35 previous convictions and was serving a jail sentence having been convicted of two counts of robbery.   

Judge Andrew Cody sentenced the man to two months in prison and ordered that the sentence begin on the expiry date of the sentence currently being served.