{"id":962991,"date":"2026-05-16T04:02:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T04:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/962991\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T04:02:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T04:02:27","slug":"pair-questioned-over-1988-backpacker-murder-may-join-new-inquest-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/962991\/","title":{"rendered":"Pair questioned over 1988 backpacker murder may join new inquest \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two people interviewed by police in connection with the murder of a German backpacker in Northern Ireland are to be asked whether they wish to participate in her inquest.<\/p>\n

On Friday, a pre-inquest review hearing into Inga Maria Hauser\u2019s death was told a letter enquiring whether the individuals wanted to apply for Properly Interested Person (PIP) status had been drafted but had not yet been sent as there was some uncertainty over the addresses of the two people.<\/p>\n

The body of Ms Hauser was found in a remote forest in Co Antrim<\/a> 14 days after she was last seen alive on a ferry from Scotland.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe area of Ballypatrick Forest in Co Antrim where the body of 18-year-old Inga Maria Hauser was found on April 20 1988 (PSNI\/PA) <\/p>\n

The 18-year-old\u2019s death in April 1988 remains one of Northern Ireland\u2019s most high-profile unsolved murders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Mo<\/a>\"Lurgan<\/a><\/p>\n

Coroner Joe McCrisken is presiding over a fresh inquest into the Munich teenager\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Counsel for the coroner, Philip Henry KC updated Mr McCrisken on issues related to the inquest during Friday\u2019s hearing in Omagh.<\/p>\n

People granted PIP status at an inquest have a right to access documents related to the case and ask questions during the proceedings.<\/p>\n

Mr Henry said the letters were ready to send.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the sensitive nature of the contents we want to make sure we send it to the right address,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"IngaInga Maria Hauser\u2019s death remains one of Northern Ireland\u2019s most high-profile unsolved murders (PSNI\/PA) <\/p>\n

Mr Henry said a \u201cfall-back position\u201d would see police officers hand delivering the letters if the uncertainty over the postal addresses was not resolved.<\/p>\n

Before her murder, Ms Hauser had travelled through England and Scotland and, according to diary entries, intended to travel south to Dublin after her ferry docked at Larne, Co Antrim.<\/p>\n

For reasons unknown, she ended up going in the opposite direction and was found dead two weeks later in a remote part of Ballypatrick Forest.<\/p>\n

Police have a male genetic profile found at the murder scene.<\/p>\n

A number of years ago, in one of the largest DNA screenings undertaken in the UK, 2,000 samples failed to produce a definitive match.<\/p>\n

In 2018, a year that marked the 30th anniversary of the murder, police made several arrests.<\/p>\n

\"BallypatrickBallypatrick Forest in Co Antrim where the body of Inga Maria Hauser was found in 1988 (Niall Carson\/PA) <\/p>\n

However, two years later prosecutors announced there was insufficient evidence to prosecute a man and a woman investigated in connection with the death.<\/p>\n

During Friday\u2019s hearing the coroner was also updated on the ongoing process to disclose official files related to the case, including those held by the police, prosecutors and Forensic Science Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

The next review hearing will take place after the court summer recess period.<\/p>\n

After Friday\u2019s hearing, the Hauser family\u2019s solicitor Claire McKeegan welcomed progress on disclosure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe on behalf of the family welcome the update and progress that has been made on disclosure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important that as much material as possible is shared with the family so that they can prepare and be fully engaged in what will be a demanding and emotional process.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two people interviewed by police in connection with the murder of a German backpacker in Northern Ireland are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":962992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[269072,78922,269073,105683,110890,1144,1610,712,16,7913,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-962991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-ballypatrick-forest","9":"tag-co-antrim","10":"tag-inga-maria-hauser","11":"tag-inquest","12":"tag-murder-investigation","13":"tag-northern-ireland","14":"tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland","15":"tag-scotland","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-ulster","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116582268926885165","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=962991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/962992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=962991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=962991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=962991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}