‘We’re just devastated. We can’t believe it’

Niall Murray, Midleton

After the grim news came through to the makeshift headquarters that a body had been found near the coast less than 10 miles away, groups of volunteers, gardaí and civil defence teams began making their way back to the clubhouse.

Although there was no official confirmation that the remains were those of Robert Holohan, the mood was extremely sombre among the weary groups sitting around drinking cups of coffee or pacing the car park of the club barely a mile from the missing schoolboy's home.