{"id":510931,"date":"2026-04-03T14:54:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T14:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/510931\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T14:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T14:54:16","slug":"veteran-liverpool-criminal-identified-as-person-of-interest-seven-years-after-man-went-missing-in-dublin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/510931\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Veteran Liverpool criminal’ identified as person of interest seven years after man went missing in Dublin"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Liverpool man has been identified as a person of interest in the investigation into the disappearance of a man in north Dublin, it has been reported. The suspect, a veteran criminal<\/a> who allegedly has a history of robbery, domestic violence and drug-dealing<\/a>, is believed to be a person of interest in the missing persons case of Icelandic man J\u00f3n J\u00f3nsson, who vanished in February 2019.<\/p>\n

Dad-of-four Mr J\u00f3nsson was last seen leaving a hotel on the Swords Road in north Dublin, where he had been staying. He was in Ireland with his fianc\u00e9e for a poker tournament and short holiday. He was recorded by a security camera passing the entrance to a nursing home some 200m away at around 11am on February 9.<\/p>\n

But beyond those images, Irish police, An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na, have not found a trace of him<\/a>. The Irish Times<\/a> reported this week that the Irish force was co-operating with Merseyside Police through Europol in an effort to speak to a 60-year-old man from Liverpool.<\/p>\n

The ECHO<\/a> has approached Merseyside Police<\/a> for further information.<\/p>\n

Sources told the Irish paper that investigators did not have enough evidence to bring charges against the suspect, meaning he cannot be extradited. Instead work is ongoing to interview the man under a mutual legal assistance agreement – a treaty between countries to exchange information for criminal investigations.<\/p>\n

The latest update in the case has come after the airing of an RT\u00c9 podcast series exploring J\u00f3nsson’s disappearance. Since the investigation the garda\u00ed has carried out multiple searches around Dublin. Members of the Irish force also travelled to Mr J\u00f3nsson’s native Iceland, where they interviewed dozens of people.<\/p>\n

Mr J\u00f3nsson’s family has previously said they believe the missing man was killed<\/a>. The Irish Times said one line of inquiry was that he was targeted by a hitman, who received orders from an organised crime group<\/a> to threaten or attack an Icelandic man who was also in Ireland, in a case of mistaken identity.<\/p>\n

Mr J\u00f3nsson’s mum, sister and brother previously appeared on an episode of Patrick Kielty’s Late Late Show in March 2025 and urged investigators to search a park where they believed his remains were buried. They also said they hoped the investigation would be upgraded to a murder probe.<\/p>\n

At this point the garda\u00ed are yet to upgrade the investigation.<\/p>\n

In an appeal to mark the seventh anniversary of Mr J\u00f3nsson’s disappearance, the force said: “Despite extensive searches, public appeals, and investigative work carried out over the past seven years, J\u00f3n’s whereabouts remain unknown.<\/p>\n

“An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na continues to treat this as an active missing person investigation. On this seventh anniversary, An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na is again appealing to the public for any information that may help locate J\u00f3n or provide clarity on his disappearance.<\/p>\n

“Even the smallest piece of information – no matter how insignificant it may seem – could assist the investigation.”<\/p>\n

Mr J\u00f3nsson’s mum, Hanna, previously described the missing man as a “prince”, adding: “He was calm. He was adorable, everybody loved him. [He was] quiet, so he was like a dream child. He was happy and he was a peacemaker above all.”<\/p>\n

His sister Anna Hildur recalled receiving the news that her brother had disappeared, saying that immediately she “knew something was wrong”. She added: “I remember the day exactly. It was a Sunday.<\/p>\n

“And I was just at the mall and his best friend called me and he told me that J\u00f3n walked out of the hotel room. And that moment I knew something was wrong. I knew something happened. I knew that he didn’t just vanish.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Liverpool man has been identified as a person of interest in the investigation into the disappearance of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1343,924,59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-510931","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-courts","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-gb","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-greatbritain","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}