A WOMAN had denied killing an Irishman who has been missing in rural Australia since December 2017.
The 70-year-old Limerick native went missing alongside his dog Kellie from the Australian Outback town of Larrimah on December 16 last.
With a population of just twelve people in the community, local woman Fran Hodgetts has denied any involvement in the disappearance.
It was reported that Ms Hodgetts had a falling out with Mr Moriarty over the meat pies she sells in her café.
Ms Hodgetts runs The Devonshire Tea House, which sells baked buffalo, crocodile and camel pies.
The falling out is reported to have come about after Mr Moriarty supported a rival café, the Pink Panther Pub, who also began to serve pies.
Ms Hodgetts told 9News.com that she co-operated with the police investigation and stated: “I’m supposed to retire, I don’t want to go to jail.”
She said: “They’ve been here five times with warrants.
"They scraped my incinerator out, my large septic, they pumped my septic out, thinking Paddy was down there.
“They checked my house three times.
“I swear on my mother’s grave and my father’s grave and I swear on the lives of my grandkids – I’ve got nine grandkids – that I never left this property.
“I don’t know where he is and I had nothing to do with Paddy.”
Police have recently said that it’s “unlikely” that Mr Moriarty is still alive.
Ms Hodgetts admitted that she was unhappy that Mr Moriarty was affecting her business.
Recently, a fake ad appeared on a tourism sign in the town promoting “Fran’s Sweeney Todd Pies” – a reference to the musical and film where a barber killed his customers and used their remains to make pies.
“It wasn’t up there when I went to town last a fortnight ago, I’ll take it down because it’s not very funny, is it?
“I’ve got people coming in and asking me for Paddy pies and I tell them, ‘no, I do waffle pies now’.
“I told the detectives I don’t bullshit and I don’t lie.
“When you find him or find his clothes I’m going to sit back and then say, ‘I told you so’. I’m supposed to retire now, I don’t want to go to f***ing jail.”
Since Mr Moriarty’s disappearance last December, police have carried out extensive searches of local lakes and scrubland but are yet to find anything.
Detective Sergeant Matt Allen, of Northern Territory police, said: “I don’t think Moriarty is alive.
“We conduct routine checks. We check banks, we check transport companies. We check Centrelink where he was on some sort of pension, where he gets regular payments.
“All those signs of life have been checked with unfortunately negative results.
“There is a remote possibility he’s alive but I would say it’s unlikely.
“There was a chicken in the oven and food on the table. His personal items were still in his house, such as bank cards and his hat.”
