Missing schoolboy may have travelled to Republic

THE search for an Irish schoolboy missing from care in Britain has been extended to the Republic on the belief that he may have travelled here to try to track down relatives.

John Mangan, 12, went missing from Leicester City in the British midlands last June, sparking a police hunt, but as he had disappeared before, his family and carers clung to the hope he would return to them in his own time.

After four months without any contact or sightings, however, there is major concern for his safety and welfare, especially as police now believe that he is in Ireland and travelling on his own.