Woman in plea over missing boyfriend

AN Irishwoman yesterday made a public appeal to help find her English boyfriend who is missing in Australia.

Catherine Rowden, from Co Down, said: “I just need to know that Sean (Kennedy) is OK,” the 22-year-old told a news conference in Sydney. “It is so out of character for him to go the night without contacting me.”

Mr Kennedy, also 22, had been ejected from a nightclub in the city before he disappeared last Thursday.

Ms Rowden, who comes from Downpatrick, said: “In the 18 months that we have been going out together, a day wouldn’t pass without us at least talking to, or texting, each other.”

The couple met while they were studying at Liverpool University.

New South Wales police said security had asked the missing man to leave the concert by Irish band Ash after becoming involved in a “verbal altercation”.

The pair arrived in Sydney in February on a working holiday.

They were planning a month-long trip north along Australia’s east coast, beginning next month, before heading to Asia.

Surry Hills police crime manager Detective Inspector Dave Egan-Lee said Mr Kennedy had been out with two flatmates at the concert when he disappeared.

Ms Rowden had been at the concert as well but had arrived late and saw Mr Kennedy for only 10 minutes before he was ejected from the Metro Theatre on George Street.

He did not turn up to his Surry Hills home, where he lived with Ms Rowden, and did not show up for work the next day.

Distressed relatives of Ms Rowden in the North declined to discuss Mr Kennedy’s disappearance.