A familiar landscape is tainted forever

THERE was a poignant symbolism in the signpost closest to the spot where the body of 11-year-old Robert Holohan was found.

Bearing the names of townlands familiar to his family, it also advertised those places forever tainted by association with the search for their missing son.

Bustling Midleton, sleepy Whitegate, sunny Guileen and nearby Inch strand shaken to the core, fearful for their children, an age of innocence now past.