Gardaí reject family criticism of search for Jamie
Jamie, 13, was found in the back garden of a vacant house in Cavan town on Friday afternoon, six days after she disappeared. She was buried yesterday at Cavan Cathedral.
It emerged at the girl’s funeral that a local boy discovered the body when he went to retrieve a soccer ball he had kicked into the back garden. The boy told his mother who then contacted gardaí.
Jamie’s mother Josephine and sister Rebecca said they had pleaded with investigating gardaí to search the disused house in Harmony Heights days beforehand.
“That house was the first thing pointed out to the gardaí, but they said they had more important things to deal with. What is more important than a missing child?” Rebecca told a Sunday newspaper.
“Even if the house was empty, why wasn’t there a proper search of the area around it?”
But gardaí yesterday rejected the allegations.
“Claims that there was information two to three days prior to her body being located is not the case,” said a garda spokesman.
There were suggestions over the weekend that the family might even make a formal complaint in relation to the investigation.
“We are standing by our investigation and the search,” said the garda spokesman.
“A dedicated team was set up. There were six sightings of her and they were all followed up.”
He said searches were carried out last Wednesday and Thursday. The latter was interrupted when there was a reported sighting of Jamie in Longford.
Gardaí said it wasn’t unusual for Jamie to go missing for a couple of days, but she always returned safely.
Jamie’s family reported her missing last Sunday after she failed to return home on Saturday night. Her mother found a picture of a man and a card in Jamie’s bedroom which read ‘To a very special girl.’
Jamie was last seen at 2am last Sunday. When her body was found on Friday, she was fully clothed and there was no apparent sign of physical attack.
A garda spokesman yesterday said extensive house-to-house inquiries had been carried out in Harmony Heights, which is about a mile-and-a-half from the Farrelly Maughan house in Ard na Gréine.
Gardaí are treating the death as suspicious, but not as murder. This would depend on the results of the post mortem.
Blood samples were taken for a toxicological examination, which will detect whether there was any alcohol or drugs in the system.
Gardaí have appealed for anyone who met or was in contact with Jamie after she disappeared to contact Cavan Garda Station on 049 4331300.
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