The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR) has confirmed that it will resume the search for the remains of Seamus Ruddy, who was murdered by the INLA over 30 years ago.

Newry-born teacher Seamus Ruddy was abducted from Paris in 1985 and is counted among The Disappeared, a group of people believed to have been killed and buried secretly during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

The search will focus in a forest at Pont-de-l’Arche outside Rouen in northern France, and area previously searched by the ICLVR in 2008.

The ICLVR recovered the bodies of victims Brendan Megraw, in 2014, and Kevin McKee and Seamus Wright in 2015.

Geoff Knupfer, who leads the team that found that trio, said that the information they are working from in the search for Ruddy is “as accurate as it can be given the passage of time”. 

"I am convinced that there is a genuine desire on the part of those supplying the information to get this resolved by finding where Seamus is buried," said Mr Knupfer.

He added: "As in other cases fresh information that refines what we already know is crucial. Everyone we have found to date has been in the area where we were told that they were.

"It is always a question of narrowing that down to a precise location. I really hope that we can do this again and find him."

Mr Knupfer also headed the team that found Disappeared victims Brendan Megraw in 2014 and Kevin McKee and Seamus Wright in 2015.

In addition to Ruddy, the remains of Columba McVeigh, Joe Lynskey and Robert Nairac have yet to be recovered.

The commission has asked anyone with information to contact them in complete confidence on 00800 555 85500, by writing to ICLVR, PO Box 10827, Dublin 2, or via iclvr.ie.