Suspected Irish serial killer Larry Murphy will leave a Dublin prison on Thursday next with  a passport and driver's license, after successfully applying for them while behind bars.

Murphy, from Wicklow, has served ten years of a fifteen year sentence for rape, but he is chief suspect in the disappearance of six women, including Long Island woman Annie McCarrick.

McCarrick was the first of the six women to disappear in March 1996 when she left her Dublin apartment for a trip to the Wicklow mountains.The young woman, who had fallen in love with Ireland and had been training to be a schoolteacher there, was never seen again.

In 2000, Murphy was arrested after he repeatedly raped a County Carlow businesswoman. He broke her nose, drove her to the Wicklow mountains, and was about to strangle her, when he was interrupted by two hunters.

He is being released early for good behavior.

He is the chief suspect in ‘Operation Trace,' the police  inquiry into the disappearance of a number of women in the Wicklow area. An FBI profiler named him the most likely killer.

Under the Sex Offenders Act 2001, Murphy must give police an address when he leaves prison. He does not have to sign on at a police station until seven days after his release.

Murphy is a former carpenter from Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, who was married with two children. He never sought any counseling and refused all offers of rehabilitation while in jail.

His release on Thursday has inflamed sentiment in his home area, with many women fearful he will strike again. Police, however, say they will conduct extensive surveillance on him.

Thomas Murphy said he suspected his brother was involved in the disappearance of the missing women.

"There's nobody gone missing (since) and I find it difficult now to believe that he wasn't involved. I can't put my hand on my heart and say he didn't do it or that he did do it," he said.