The arrest today of a man in connection with the alleged kidnapping of six-year-old Mary Boyle in 1977 has brought the case of Ireland’s youngest ever disappeared back into the public spotlight. Stephen Rogers chronicles the background to the case.

The mother of Mary Boyle, who has been missing for 35 years this weekend, said she still thinks of the missing six-year-old every day and the pain never goes away.

A series of events in Cork this weekend marks the centenary of innovative composer John Cage, Don O’Mahony reports

THE authorities paid over £5,500 (€6,650) to hire a private plane for serial child killer Robert Black’s trial, it has been revealed.

Serial child killer Robert Black is to serve a minimum of 25 years in jail for murdering a schoolgirl 30 years ago.

Serial child killer Robert Black’s defence lawyer today told a court that no plea for mercy could be offered over his sentencing.

The red bike Jennifer Cardy was riding when Robert Black snatched her from a country road could be key to charging the serial killer in connection with another child disappearance, a senior detective has said.

SERIAL killer Robert Black’s fourth murder conviction will prompt further investigations into other unsolved child disappearances, police said last night.

Serial killer Robert Black has been convicted of his fourth child murder.

The jury in serial killer Robert Black’s latest murder trial are set to begin a second day of deliberations.

The jury in serial killer Robert Black’s latest murder trial has been sent home for the day after failing to reach a verdict after almost three hours of deliberations.

The jury in serial killer Robert Black’s latest murder trial will retire to consider its verdict today.

The jury in serial killer Robert Black's latest murder trial must not let their opinion of him cloud their judgment, his defence lawyer urged.

Lawyers representing serial killer Robert Black in his latest murder trial called a solitary witness as they set out the case for the defence in under two hours.

Serial child killer Robert Black prowled crowded beaches hunting out opportunities to spy on and play with young girls, his latest murder trial has heard.

A teenager’s desperate struggle with serial killer Robert Black as he tried to bundled her into his van has been recounted at his latest murder trial.

CHILD serial killer Robert Black’s horrific past has been revealed to a stunned jury at his trial in the North for the murder of another schoolgirl.

A Scottish van driver accused of murdering a schoolgirl while delivering to the North told police he accepted he was in the region the day she vanished, his trial has heard.

A Scottish van driver accused of murdering a schoolgirl told police he often used the stretch of road off which her body was found, his trial has heard.

US senators who want a hearing into the Lockerbie bomber’s release were urged to sign a letter asking the Scottish Government to hold its own public inquiry into the tragedy, it emerged last night.

Lawyers for a man accused of murdering a nine-year-old girl in the North 28 years ago launched a legal challenge today against the evidence in the case.

A man accused of murdering a schoolgirl almost 30 years ago is set to appear before court next month.

THE health of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was under question yesterday following reports it had deteriorated markedly.

FAMILIES of victims of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing stood sharply divided yesterday over reports that the former Libyan agent jailed for life for the attack is to be freed on compassionate grounds.

Police in the North have sent a file to the Public Prosecution Service in connection with their hunt for the murderer of a schoolgirl 27 years ago.

A US man convicted in the shooting death of a convenience store clerk became the 400th person to be executed in Texas since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982.

An old leg injury has surfaced as a key element in an appeal that seeks to keep a condemned Texas inmate from being executed this evening.

PAEDOPHILE Peter Voisey’s six-year-old victim was “lucky to be alive”, a leading criminologist said yesterday.

Hurricane Rita closed in on the Texas Gulf Coast and the heart of the US oil-refining industry with howling 145 mph winds, but a sharper-than-expected turn to the right set it on a course that could spare Houston and nearby Galveston a direct hit.

Ian Graham

Gardaí now believe a convicted child serial killer was behind the disappearance of a six-year-old girl in the 1970s.

A special Scottish court in the Netherlands was opening an appeals hearing today for a Libyan intelligence agent convicted of mass murder for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing - a case that exposed the complexity of putting terrorism on trial.

Colonel Gaddafi is expected to produce evidence he claims will clear the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing.