Fears grow for safety of missing schoolboy Robert

FEARS increased for the safety of missing schoolboy Robert Holohan last night after intensive searches by more than 70 gardaí and 1,200 volunteers failed to turn up any trace.

Senior gardaí have refused to comment on speculation that the boy, 11, from Midleton, Co Cork, may have been abducted.

His mother, Majella, said: “We want him home, at home with us. We don’t care what’s after happening, whoever has him, please let him go and send him home to me tonight.

“He seems to have disappeared, we are not sure how, everybody is baffled.”

Chief Superintendent Kieran McGann, who is leading the investigation, said gardaí were keeping an open mind. However, following a second day of searches, he admitted to being “extremely concerned” about the boy’s welfare.

Robert went missing on Tuesday afternoon after going for a ride on his new BMX bicycle. It was later discovered against a ditch, near the local golf club, which is half a mile from his home. Gardaí carried out initial tests on the bicycle and have now sent it to Dublin for more intensive forensic examination.

It has been confirmed Robert made a telephone call to a girl who lives nearby the afternoon he disappeared. Gardaí said it was made locally and before credit on his mobile phone ran out. The phone has since been switched off.

Volunteers from as far away as Westport, Co Mayo, and Dublin combed a five-mile radius of the boy’s home yesterday and the search will resume today at 8.30am.