A man in his 50s has been arrested in connection with the investigation into the murder of Kerry farmer Michael (Mike) Gaine last year.

Mr Gaine was reported missing from his home at Carraig East, around 8m from Kenmare, in Co Kerry, on Friday 21 March 2025.

Human tissue found on his farm were identified in May that year as his remains.

Gardaí said that a man was arrested this morning and is being held at a garda station in Kerry.

This is the second arrest in the investigation.

Mr Gaine was last seen on 20 March 2025.

The 56-year old was well known in farming and motorsport circles.

Hundreds of people joined a search of the rugged, mountainous terrain of his 1,000-acre farm, co-ordinated by gardaí and the Coast Guard.

The Garda Water Unit also searched a number of lakes, streams and rivers within a 5km radius of Mr Gaine’s home.

As searches continued for Mr Gaine, friend and neighbour Dan McCarthy said at the time that there was nothing to explain his disappearance.

“It is absolutely out of character completely that he vanished off the face of the earth, in this rural part of the county and the country,” the local County Councillor said.

Gardaí reclassified the case to one of homicide and central to that was the result of their enquiries to establish proof of life.

On 1 May, gardaí released appeals which they recorded with Mr Gaine’s wife, Janice, and his sister, Noreen O’Regan.

The strain on both was clearly visible in the videos.

“We just want Michael to come home,” Janice Gaine said in the video statement.

“We want to know what happened to him, because if we can’t find Michael I just don’t know what I’m going to do.”

She said Mike was her “best friend, my husband” and “this whole thing has been devastating”.

“He loved his home, he loved his farm, he loved animals.

“He had lots of friends. He was a very popular guy.

“His disappearance is totally out of character and we knew that from day one.”

Noreen O’Regan, said the family were “absolutely devastated at what has happened”.

“Our lives are shattered. We want answers. We love Michael, we want him back.”

She described Mr Gaine as a “loving husband, brother, uncle”, and said his nieces and nephews loved him.

“We are devastated and we want him back,” she said.

Just over a fortnight later, a friend of Mr Gaine, who was tending to his farm, discovered human tissue as he spread slurry in fields close to the farmyard. The fields were sealed off and declared a crime scene, as were the farmyard and the slurry tank there from which the slurry had been drawn.

Over that weekend, an intensive search took place in the farmyard and in the surrounding fields. More human tissue was found in the slurry tank.

The material was later confirmed to be the partial remains of Mike Gaine.

On 25 May, gardaí arrested and questioned former US soldier Mike Kelley on suspicion of Mr Gaine’s murder. He was released without charge just over 24 hours later.

Mr Kelley, who was working and living on Mr Gaine’s farm when he disappeared, confirmed in a subsequent interview with RTÉ News that he was the man who had been arrested and questioned by gardaí.

Mr Kelley denied any involvement in Mr Gaine’s death.