Gardaí probe white van link in search for boy

GARDAÍ are investigating a possible link between sightings of a white van and the disappearance of an 11-year-old schoolboy last week.

Chief Superintendent Kieran McGann, who is leading the investigation into the disappearance of Robert Holohan, said gardaí have received a number of reports in relation to a white van seen in the Co Cork area where the boy lives.

The van may have a Northern Ireland or British registration.

Robert, from Ballyedmond, Midleton, has not been seen since he left home on his bike at 2.30pm last Tuesday.

A number of paedophiles living in east Cork are believed to be the focus of an investigation into the disappearance of the schoolboy.

Weekend reports claimed more than 12 paedophiles listed on the Sex Offenders’ Register would have to account for their movements last Tuesday as a part of the investigation.

Chief Supt McGann declined to comment on possible paedophile involvement in the boy’s disappearance on the basis it could compromise their inquires.

He said Robert’s disappearance was still classified as a missing person’s case and was not a criminal investigation. He said the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation had been brought in because of specific skills in locating missing persons. Up to 75 gardaí are working on the case.

The mobile phone Robert had with him when he left home just prior to his disappearance has also become a focus of the garda investigation.

It has been tracked on a nearby telephone mast for several hours after it was last used just after Robert left home on Tuesday. However, the signals did not move from the area close to his home, suggesting it was either discarded, or that Robert was near by.

The silver BMX bike, a Christmas gift Robert loved, was discovered against a ditch near the East Cork Golf Club on a road used by drivers avoiding the main street in Midleton. It has been sent to Dublin for forensic examination.

Yesterday, dreadful weather meant the planned search for the missing boy did not go ahead.

“The very bad weather was hampering our efforts so we had to cancel the search apart from a few specific areas,” said Chief Supt McGann. This included areas close to the boy’s own home and in nearby Mogeely and Castlemartyr.

Meanwhile, volunteers have been asked to continue their search efforts.

The appeal was made at all Masses in the town yesterday morning by local Canon Bertie Troy.

Robert’s mother, Majella, has also appealed for the safe return of her son in the event he was abducted.

“We don’t care what’s after happening, whoever has him, please let him go and send him home to me,” she said at the weekend.

Yesterday, Majella, a dental nurse in Midleton; her husband Mark, a builder, and their children, Emma, aged eight, and four-year-old Harry were being comforted by family and friends.

So far, up to 1,000 volunteers have assisted the Holohans on a daily basis in the search for their son. Army; civil defence; the marine search and rescue helicopter; the garda search and rescue aircraft, the Midleton Red Cross unit and garda dogs and divers have so far had no success.

It is now six days since his bike was found abandoned near the East Cork Golf Club.

Gardaí appeal for people who were at the golf club last Tuesday to make contact with them at Midleton station on 021-4621550.