Abduction accused lived in Ireland

A WOMAN currently in custody in Canada on charges of abducting her daughter in 1993, lived and worked in Cork for four years while allegedly on the run.

Patricia O’Byrne, aged 54, is accused of abducting the 20-month-old toddler in 1993 shortly after she and the child’s father, Joe Chisholm, were awarded joint custody. After her disappearance, it was suspected she might be in Britain or Spain. It has now emerged she was definitely in Ireland for part of time for which she was unaccounted.

For the last 18 years, O’Byrne and her daughter have gone by the names Pamela and Thea Whelan.