Family of murdered Inga Maria Hauser ‘hope inquest can provide answers’

The family of a German backpacker murdered in Co Antrim in 1988 have placed “considerable hope” that an inquest can finally provide answers, their lawyer has said.

Inquest proceedings into the death of Inga Maria Hauser are now to proceed following a delay over issues of jurisdiction.

A review hearing on Wednesday heard that police have collated a “significant body of material” relating to the unsolved murder for the inquest.

The body of Ms Hauser from Munich was found in a remote forest near Ballycastle in Co Antrim, 14 days after she was last seen alive on a ferry from Scotland.

The 18-year-old’s death in April 1988 remains one of the region’s most high-profile unsolved murders.

A sister of Ms Hauser observed proceedings at Belfast’s Laganside Courthouse on Wednesday by videolink.

A previous hearing in January had been told that it appeared that a previous inquest had been opened in 1990 into Ms Hauser’s death but seemed to have closed without hearing any evidence or providing a verdict.

Coroner Joe McCrisken opened the latest hearing by stating that there had been a delay in proceedings “because of an issue over jurisdiction”, which has now been resolved through a direction from the Attorney General.

Counsel for the coroner, Philip Henry, said the disclosure process for the proceedings would now recommence.

Barrister for the PSNI Mark Robinson told the hearing that a “significant body of material has been collated for examination by the coroner’s service”.

Barrister for the Hauser family, Brenda Campbell, told the court that a documentary, Murder in the Badlands, had been made about the case in 2022 by BBC Northern Ireland, which was later streamed on Netflix.

She said: “I wonder if we might start those conversations in terms of asking the journalists whether they have any material which is potentially relevant to the inquest proceedings?”

Mr Henry said: “In relation to the media material, we should send out letters and get that ball rolling and see what there is.”

Mr McCrisken said another review hearing will take place on February 6.

Speaking after the hearing, Claire McKeegan, partner at Phoenix Law, who represents the Hauser family, said the review signalled the “next step in moving the inquest forward after 37 years”.

She said: “The family place considerable hope and emotional investment in this process

“Today we learnt that PSNI have collated their files and we urge them to serve them on the coroner urgently so that we can begin to receive them and prepare.

“Inga’s case impacted the entire country back in 1988 and continues to draw support and interest due to the horrific circumstances of her murder and the fact that there has never been justice for her family.

“It is critical that all involved move quickly to allow for the facts to be established and any chance of prosecutions can be revisited.”

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.

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.

Police have a male genetic profile found at the murder scene.

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.

In 2018, a year that marked the 30th anniversary of the murder, police made several arrests.

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