The investigation into the disappearance of Brooke Pickard was essentially a criminal investigation from the moment Gardaí were alerted. Once Sergeant Michael Griffin took the phone call at Caherciveen station which first raised the alarm, detectives knew they were dealing with an armed abduction and possible murder. A large team of Gardaí was assembled, led by Chief Superintendent Donal O’Sullivan and Superintendent Thomas Lally. A major search was undertaken throughout Castle Cove and beyond for Brooke, his blue van, and the orange Toyota Corolla. A thorough search of the coastline was conducted, and the army helicopter was used to search the nearby mountainous terrain. A full description of Brooke was issued to the local and national media—slim but fit, short cropped grey-brown hair, grey-brown stubble, would normally wear wire-rimmed glasses for driving, a distinctive nose, square jaw bone and Yorkshire accent. Brooke had previously worn a full beard but had recently shaved it off and wore stubble instead. The appeal also included the information that Brooke smoked rolled-up cigarettes and had a pleasant manner.
Within days of Brooke’s disappearance, much information was coming to light. There were now suggestions that another abduction attempt had been made on the same Kerry peninsula within a few hours of Brooke’s disappearance. Information was coming into the investigation team suggesting another man had managed to escape from armed men when he realised he was about to be abducted. It was quite possible that there might be a link between the two. It’s a lead Gardaí are still actively following.
There was also talk that at least one person might have seen Brooke fighting back against the men who attacked him. There was a rumour that a man had seen Brooke being struck on the back of the head with a firearm and then being bundled into his own van. Extensive interviews of all local people led to information suggesting that men from Northern Ireland had previously visited the area. A number of people in Cos. Kerry and Cork were also nominated as perhaps having more information than they were giving. In the first few days of May 1991 a number of people were arrested in connection with Brooke’s disappearance. The investigation into the abduction of Brooke Pickard was soon unearthing information of other suspected criminal activity in the south-west of the country. It was becoming apparent that the investigation would be very complex and time-consuming. Assistance was sought from the Crime and Security Branch at Garda Headquarters, and two experienced officers, Detective Superintendent Tom Connolly and Detective Garda Bernie Hanley, travelled to Kerry to assist in the case.
Gardaí spoke at length with the young girl who had been on horseback when she saw the masked man in White Strand car park. Despite her young age, her recall was very good. The orange car was parked facing towards the beach, she remembered. The masked man who had suddenly appeared from the side of a vacant holiday home was wearing a balaclava which had holes for the eyes but no hole for the mouth. He was wearing a blue jacket with white stripes from the shoulders to the sleeves. He seemed to be hunched up but running and was beckoning with his right hand to someone behind him.
The girl also gave as much information as she could about the man she had earlier seen walking in Castle Cove and who was quite possibly the man that had later been in the passenger seat of Brooke’s van as it had entered White Strand car park. The girl remembered he was wearing a white jumper and he might have had a moustache. She had seen him walking near the creamery stop in the village. She did not recognise him.
As friends and neighbours sought to comfort Penny, her daughter and sons, Gardaí continued extensive searches along the coastline. They walked for miles both east and west of Castle Cove, but there was no sign of Brooke and no sign yet of his van. However, the Toyota Corolla was soon located in Limerick because the licence plate had not been altered by the gang which had taken it from Co. Kilkenny, so detectives soon built up a picture of how it had been taken to Co. Kerry and, some time after Brooke’s abduction, the Corolla was then abandoned in the grounds of Limerick Regional Hospital. A search of the car did not reveal any clue as to what had happened to Brooke. Gardaí continued to search around Co. Kerry but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. But then, on Thursday 16 May—twenty days after Brooke was abducted—his van was found burnt out 27 miles from his home.
It was 3.35 p.m. when Garda Tom O’Connor received an anonymous call at Caherciveen station to say there was an abandoned van near Shronaloughane Forest, deep in the mountains north-east of Waterville. Garda O’Connor immediately told his colleagues and one hour later Gardaí found what was left of Brooke’s van at the end of a track at the entrance to a wood in the townland of Derreennageeha, just south of Shronaloughane. The van had been driven as far as it could along a dirt-track off the winding, hilly country road. A large tree had long ago fallen across a section of the dirt-track and so the van had been abandoned about 300 yards in off the road, where it could go no further. It had then been set on fire. The number plate was still on the van—YNP 231W—this was Brooke Pickard’s van, last seen three weeks previously at White Strand car park.
Garda enquiries would later lead them to believe that the person who made the anonymous call alerting them to the burnt-out van had merely been passing by and saw the van. This person did not have any involvement at all in what had happened to Brooke. There had been a good deal of media appeals about the missing Ford Transit van so the person who made the call may have rightly believed they had found Brooke’s van, but didn’t want to have anything further to do with the case. They had done their civic duty by alerting detectives about their chance discovery.
The scene at Derreennageeha was immediately sealed off and a team from the Garda Technical Bureau arranged to travel to the forest from Dublin the next day. Detective Sergeant Edwin Hancock from Ballistics, Detective Garda Moses Morrissey from the Fingerprint section, Detective Garda Peter O’Connor from the Photographic section and Detective Eamon Murphy from the Mapping section each had a very precise and important job to do. The discovery of Brooke Pickard’s van was a tangible lead. The abductors might have left trace evidence at the scene, either inside or outside the vehicle. The van had been badly damaged by fire, but a number of items were removed for further examination. One of the first things found in the van was the exploded remnants of a round of ammunition. It was a bullet designed for use in a revolver. A technical examination by Detective Sergeant Hancock showed that the round had not been fired from a weapon but it had exploded with the heat of the fire in the van. The detective found the casing of the round also in the rear of the vehicle.
Other items were removed from the van, each a potential clue to what had happened to Brooke, each a normal everyday item which gave an insight into Brooke’s hard-working lifestyle. Gardaí removed one brown leather boot from the van, and a pair of orange and yellow coloured boot laces. The head of a garden fork was found, along with a hacksaw, a chainsaw, shovel, spanners and pliers—all items Brooke used for work on the farm. Two religious medals were found in the debris along with some buttons and a number of 2p coins.
As the forensic search of the van was continuing, a major search of Derreennageeha Forest was also being conducted. Detectives were very conscious that Brooke might have been driven in the back of his own van to the remote forest high in the mountains and then murdered. It was possible that his killers had then tried to hide his body nearby. On 17 May a large team of Gardaí walked through the forest looking for any clue, any piece of clothing, any trace of violence, any trace of Brooke. Even with the assistance of search dogs, officers were faced with a massive search area. The forest where Brooke’s van had been found comprised 400 acres. There were a number of other forests and mountains in the area where Brooke’s attackers could have hidden him. It was assumed that Brooke’s van had been driven to its final destination from the Waterville direction, so a full 12-mile stretch of road was searched for a width of 50 yards on both sides. Despite extensive searches no trace of Brooke was found.
If Brooke was killed, there is no way to definitively say how he met his dea
th. There are some suggestions that he was struck on the head with a firearm as he was being abducted. This may have rendered him unconscious or could have caused a fatal injury. The discovery of a bullet in Brooke’s van would certainly lend to the theory that the abductors carried weapons which were fully loaded. However, there was no evidence of a weapon having been fired—the bullet found in Brooke’s van had exploded due to the fire that was set—but its discovery does lend weight to the theory that Brooke may have been forced to walk at gunpoint from his own van after it came to a stop at Derreennageeha. Perhaps he was transferred to another vehicle, but it is quite possible that he was forced to walk deep into one of the forested areas in this remote part of Co. Kerry. Although his abduction was not considered the work of a paramilitary organisation, history has shown that such groups would force people they abducted to walk quite some distance from any road before they were executed and buried in unmarked graves in remote locations. Perhaps the abductors of Brooke Pickard did the same thing. The more you look at the case, the more you have to wonder if the answer to Brooke’s disappearance lies within a mile or two of where his van was found abandoned and burnt out.
There were only two ways for Brooke’s abductors to drive his van from Castle Cove to Derreennageeha Forest. Gardaí later drove both journeys and, based on all the information they have, one theory is favoured over the other. While it is technically possible that Brooke’s van could have been driven east of Castle Cove along the Ring of Kerry towards Sneem and then high up into the mountains, this journey would have been more awkward and taken almost an hour. The more logical route for the abductors would have been to come out of White Strand car park and turn left, heading west along the Ring of Kerry through Castle Cove and passing just a short distance from Brooke’s home, which was up a hill to the right. Keeping on the N70, the van would have driven through the village of Caherdaniel before entering the coastal town of Waterville. From there the van would have taken a right and driven high up the mountains, eventually passing over Lisatinnig Bridge close to the source of the River Inny Just a mile further on is Derreennageeha Forest, which lies at the foothills of two impressive mountains—Knocknacusha and Knocknagapple. The journey from Castle Cove through Waterville to this location is almost 27 miles and takes 45 minutes. It’s much quicker and more convenient than coming from the east. There are no houses for miles. Derreennageeha Forest is one of the most remote places you could find. And it is here that Brooke Pickard’s van was set on fire. It is also entirely possible that it is here or very close to here that Brooke was murdered and his body hidden.
If Brooke Pickard’s body lies hidden in this part of Co. Kerry, only a major search using the latest technology may find him. An extensive search of the terrain in 1991 did not locate any trace of Brooke, but search techniques and expertise have developed and improved significantly in the last twenty years, and specialist equipment has also advanced. A full and extensive new search of the terrain around Derreennageeha must be undertaken.
Penny Pickard has never been to the spot where her husband’s van was found abandoned. She knows generally where it is, some miles north-east of Waterville, but she has found the prospect of going there too upsetting. She remembers the fear she and her children felt when news came that Brooke’s van had been found. “It was very scary. We were very much expecting that the Gardaí were going to find Brooke’s body imminently. We were also very surprised that it had taken three weeks to find the van and it had only been found by chance. It was a very disturbing and sinister feeling when Brooke’s van was found.”
Although Gardaí suspect men from Northern Ireland were involved in Brooke’s abduction, detectives believe the gang must have had assistance from someone in Co. Kerry. The location where the van was abandoned was too remote, too out of the way to have been the sole work of outsiders. When you consider that the Toyota Corolla was found abandoned in Limerick, it seems the gang wished to get out of Kerry as quickly as possible. Going to Derreennageeha Forest without local assistance might not be a wise move for people who didn’t know the area, and who might run the risk of getting lost in the mountains. It seems logical that someone led them to that spot, someone who perhaps travelled in Brooke’s van, or drove in the Toyota Corolla, or perhaps in another vehicle. Someone who knew Co. Kerry, who knew where to hide the van, and perhaps where to hide Brooke. Perhaps that person didn’t physically travel to the forest but had given a map to the abductors indicating a well-concealed hiding place high in the mountains. The location where Brooke’s van was abandoned ties in with the belief of Gardaí that one or more people living in Co. Kerry may have been part of the plot to abduct Brooke.
In the first few days and weeks after Brooke’s disappearance, friends from Sneem and Caherciveen rallied around Penny and her children. A friend came to man the farm and cooked meals for Lisa and Penny. Other friends had kindly taken the boys into their home to keep them safe, away from the trauma and to leave Penny free for what seemed like endless, if vital conversations with Gardaí. As the weeks passed, Penny was trying to keep things going for her children. And all the while she was hoping Brooke would suddenly reappear. It was a very traumatic and stressful time.
As weeks turned into months and eventually years, Penny and her four children were left in limbo. All the indications were that Brooke had been murdered, but in the absence of his body being found, there was no real certainty about what had happened. Although a dozen people had been arrested, no charges were brought and there was no trace of Brooke. Detectives wanted to interview at least five men from Northern Ireland but they were no longer in the Republic of Ireland. The Garda investigation eventually wound down and the media moved on to the next story. Penny was now faced with bringing up the family by herself.
The one thing that kept me going was my foundation of trust in, and reliance on, God. I cried out to God for help in 1985 at a time of family stress. My prayers were quickly answered, and I avidly read the Bible and committed my life to the Lord. Back then, Brooke and I started to rebuild our life together. The foundation laid in my life at that time greatly prepared me to still find peace, strength and hope during the ensuing tragedies and traumas.
Amid the emotional turmoil there were also practical problems, which can affect any family of a missing person. In Brooke’s case the problems were particularly acute because family assets were in his name.
“When someone goes missing presumed dead all their assets are frozen for seven years,” explains Penny.
It’s seven years before you can begin the process of having a missing person declared legally dead. So we had this unfinished house to maintain and the whole farm to maintain and our capital was frozen in the bank. I couldn’t have sold the house even if I’d wanted to, as it was frozen too. It actually took 14 years before money was freed up for the family. That period was extremely difficult. It was frustrating that there was money in the bank, but I couldn’t use Brooke’s money to maintain his own assets. We were in financial hardship.
In January 1994, another tragedy struck the Pickard family. Less than three years after Brooke disappeared, the eldest child in the family, Lisa, passed away following a road traffic accident. She was just 17 years old. Lisa had been seven when the family had moved from England to Castle Cove. She loved the country life, with her pet chickens and later her ponies. At seventeen, she was making plans for university. She was a very strong, capable person, fun-loving, with a great sense of humour. She was well loved within the community and her loss was massive. Lisa is now laid to rest near Castle Cove.
A file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions by Gardaí investigating Brooke’s disappearance. Detectives believed that up to five men had been present when Brooke was abducted and some of those men were armed. Having interviewed a number of people in the south-west of the country, Gardaí believed the abduction might have been related to an attempt to steal money which the gang believed Brooke had in his possession. Although a number of men from North
ern Ireland were known to have visited Castle Cove prior to Brooke’s abduction and were believed to have carried out the attack, there was no evidence that the abduction was carried out by an illegal organisation. The investigation had been hampered because a number of the suspects had returned to Northern Ireland and were beyond the reach of Gardaí. Having studied the file in late 1991 the DPP decided no charges could be brought at that time.
As part of their enquiries, Gardaí examined Brooke’s one brush with the law during his life in Ireland. It was in December 1988 that he and another Englishman were arrested in Dún Laoghaire in Dublin after detectives found Brooke’s friend in possession of a modified starting pistol. A court later heard that Brooke had been owed £4,000 by a man who in turn was owed money by others. Brooke and his friend had gone to try and collect the debt from these other people and the gun had been brandished. “He lent money to someone and was angry that he hadn’t got it back,” recalls Penny. “He went to retrieve the money and took someone with him. The person who owed him the money claimed he had had it taken from him by two others. Brooke and his friend went to try and retrieve the money from these two people but one of them called the Gardaí and took Brooke’s number plate. It was a foolish venture that he had gone on and the courts recognised it as such. He eventually received a suspended sentence. He never got his money back.” Detectives are satisfied that this incident had nothing to do with Brooke’s abduction two and a half years later.
The Cold Case Files Page 10
