Irish fugitive fakes his own death to avoid murder rap

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Fugitive John Griffin is a suspect in the Emer O’Loughlin murder case.

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John ‘Fozzy’ Griffin has been placed on Interpol’s most wanted list for the murder of 23-year-old Emer O’Loughlin. Her body was found in a burnt-out caravan Ballybornagh, near the Burren in County Clare on April 8th, 2005.

Just 11 days after O’Loughlin’s remains were found, Griffin went missing on Inis Mor, an Aran Island. It is believed that he faked his own death fearing that he would be found out.

Griffin’s clothes were discovered at the edge of a cliff, at the Dún Aonghasa fort, but the Irish police could never rule out the possibility that he had made his escape in a small boat or had someone to collect him.

Five years on, it is now believed that Griffin is living in Britain, Germany, Spain or the Netherlands and he is now the prime suspect in O’Loughlin’s murder.

O’Loughlin’s remains were exhumed earlier this year for further tests and a murder investigation was launched. Originally from Ennistymon, O’Loughlin was living in Ballybornagh and was studying at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology before she was murdered.

Her sister told the Clare People newspaper that it was a fantastic development that the police had narrowed down suspects for her sister’s murder.

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