Search begins for remains of Captain Robert Nairac, murdered by the IRA in 1977 | Northern Ireland

The search is set to begin for the remains of a British Army captain and undercover agent who was kidnapped, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA in 1977.

Captain Robert Nairac was kidnapped by the IRA while on undercover duty in The Three Steps pub in Dromintee, south Armagh, near the border. After a struggle, he was taken across the border to a field in Ravensdale woodland in north Louth, where he was beaten and interrogated, then murdered.

His body was never found and the Grenadier Guard is considered one of the 17 people known as “disappeared” who were killed and secretly buried by the republican paramilitary group during the Northern Ireland conflict.

In 2019, a preliminary investigation was carried out at a site in Ravensdale Forest, County Louth.

The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains (ICLVR), which has found the remains of numerous “disappeared” people, said this was its first search for Captain Nairac.

It is scheduled to take place in the Faughart area, also in County Louth.

Jon Hill, ICVR's lead investigator, said that although Captain Nairac was one of the most famous disappearances, they had “very little clues”.

“We believe we now have enough credible information to justify a search,” he said.

It is unclear what new information was shared with the commission, but under laws enacted in both the UK and Ireland when the commission was established, former members of paramilitary organisations can provide details to the ICLVR without fear of legal repercussions.

The commission is not disclosing where the search will take place, other than to say it will be on less than an acre of private farmland near the 14th-century Hill of Faughart battlefield in north Louth.

As a result, the ICLVR stated that the search for Captain Nairac's remains could potentially lead to the discovery of other historical and archaeological objects.

Hill said: “I want to make it clear that neither the landowner nor the tenant have any connection with our decision to search at this particular location.”

Captain Nairac was born to an English mother and a father of French-Mauritian descent. He was educated at Ampleforth and Oxford, and graduated from Sandhurst. He served four tours in Northern Ireland, and his spectacular kidnapping and murder gave rise to all sorts of rumours and speculation, including – incorrectly – that his remains were put through a meat grinder.

In 1979, Nairac was posthumously awarded the St George Cross after allegedly refusing to collapse during torture.

Three men were charged with murder, a fourth with manslaughter, a fifth with kidnapping and a sixth with withholding information.

A seventh man wanted in connection with the murder fled to the United States and never returned to Northern Ireland.

In addition, there are several unproven allegations that he collaborated with loyalist paramilitaries in the murder of three members of the popular showband in Miami in 1975 and in the Dublin-Monaghan bombings in 1974, in which 34 people were killed.

But the late former ICLVR chief investigator Geoff Knupfer said there was no evidence of Captain Nairac's involvement in the collusion.

The Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, at a special mass for the disappeared earlier this year renewed his appeal for anyone with information to help the families of Captain Nairac and three other men whose remains have still not been found to come forward so that the murdered men can receive a Christian burial.

Captain Nairac leaves behind two sisters and the ICLVR says the Nairac family will be kept updated on developments.

The ICLVR said there was no time limit on the search, but did not expect it to last long.

The three other men whose remains have not yet been found are Joe Lynskey, Columba McVeigh and Seamus Maguire.

The Commission has reiterated its call for anyone with information to contact it and stated that all information would be treated in the strictest confidence.