Human remains found during search for teen

GARDA divers searching for missing Sligo teenager Melissa Mahon have found skeletal remains in a Sligo lake.

Divers found what is believed to be human remains in Lough Gill early yesterday.

The bones were removed from the beauty spot yesterday morning and taken away for analysis.

Gardaí said that it will take a considerable time to establish the identity of the remains.

“It could take some time before an exact identity is established. The remains were pretty decomposed,” said sources.

The discovery was made after gardaí got a tip-off that the missing teenager was in the Co Sligo lake. The information suggested the body was in a location in the northern side of the lake near Dromohair in Co Leitrim.

But the location of the discovery has prompted speculation that the remains could be those of the missing teenager. This sparked a full-scale search of the lake, which began on February 1.

However, the search had been hampered by bad weather and was resumed last Friday.

Melissa Mahon has not been seen since she vanished from the Old Bundoran Road in Sligo town in September 2006. She had returned from London to live in Sligo with her parents Freddie and Mary Mahon five years ago.

Melissa Mahon is one of 10 children and some of her brothers and sisters are living in London.

Gardaí have described her as “vulnerable”.

At the time of her disappearance she was wearing a pink jacket and black tracksuit bottoms.

She is five feet tall, of pale complexion and has long dark hair.

Six weeks after Melissa disappeared in October 2006, her mother Mary made an impassioned appeal for her return.

Ms Mahon said: “Please come home my darling. I won’t let anyone hurt you. You can contact either me or your sisters Leanne and Yvonne on the phone.”

There had been several reported sightings of the young girl in the days immediately after her disappearance.

Ms Mahon said she had brought Melissa and some of her large family back to Ireland because London was becoming too dangerous.