Walkabout Limerick toddler ran into mother’s arms

It is every parent’s worst nightmare. A knock on the door in the middle of the night to ask if you are missing a child.

But this is what happened to Christine Costelloe, who only realised her son Theo, 2, was missing was when gardaí woke her in the middle of the night.

Speaking at Henry Street Garda Station yesterday, Christine said: “I was asleep and unaware that anything was wrong. I had gone to bed at around 11pm. Then I was awoken by gardaí downstairs calling if there was anybody in the house. When I went downstairs they asked me if I had a son.

“When I went into Theo’s room he wasn’t in his cot. I went back down and the guards showed me a picture of Theo they had on their mobile phone. They said it was OK, and he was safe.

“Theo had ventured out after 2am and went down by the Dublin Road. They said a young lad had found him and contacted the gardaí. I was in panic, shock, how I didn’t hear anything, [not even] a creaking door.”

Christine, a receptionist at a business college, said it was unlike Theo not to come into her room if he woke.

“He just got out his cot, closed his bedroom door behind him, and off down out the front door,” she said.

Theo in the arms of his grandad Greg Costello from Limerick Fire and Rescue.

During his late-night adventure, Theo, dressed in his pyjamas and dragging a little pink blanket, managed to cross the N7 Limerick/Dublin roadway after he left the family home at Aspen Gardens, off St Patrick’s Rd shortly after 2am on Wednesday as his Christine and his siblings Jack, 6, and Lauren 1, slept.

Twenty minutes after he left the house, a 21-year-old student, James Ryan from Kilkenny, found Theo more than a mile from Aspen Gardens and on the far side of the N7.

Garda Orlaith Ryan and Garda Shaun O’Hagan responded to a call from Mr Ryan and brought Theo to Henry Street Garda Station in their patrol car.

As they looked after Theo, two other colleagues, Garda Mags O’Brien and Garda Joe O’Dwyer, left in another patrol car to try and find out where the child had come from.

Shortly before 4am, they spotted a house in Aspen Gardens with its front door open, and the mystery was solved.

Garda O’Hagan said that after Mr Ryan spotted the child, a taxi driver also pulled up and they contacted the gardaí. Mr Ryan gave Theo his T-shirt to keep him warm.

Garda Ryan said Theo was very good when they brought him in the patrol car to Henry Street Garda Station.

She said: “We thought he would have been scared, but he took to Shaun very well. Our reaction was to ensure he was OK and make sure he hadn’t been hurt. On getting to the station, we kept him warm and gave him milk and yoghurt and put on children’s TV. He was a pleasure.

The youngster went missing at 2am from his home in Aspen Gardens, St Patrick’s Road, Limerick. Pictures: Don Moloney

“We knew by his clothing and his feet that he hadn’t gone too far. He wasn’t dirty, and his blanket was a small bit dirty from dragging it.”

She said when they brought Theo back to Aspen Gardens, the little boy shouted out “mammy” as they rounded the corner of his estate. “He ran, literally, when we opened the patrol car door into his mam’s arms. It was lovely,” said Garda Ryan.

Garda O’Hagan said they were determined to unite the child with his family as quickly as possible.

He said: “We knew there would be a parent waking up and realising there was a child missing and a door open and the panic that would have caused. We felt if we could get there first and hopefully be able to say we have your child, the child is fine, we [could spare] a parent having to go through this trauma.

“He was very cool, I must say.”

Garda Ryan said what had occurred was a complete accident that could happen any family.

He said: “At that age, children are starting to move about and it is not Christine’s fault or anybody’s fault. What happened was unfortunate, but fortunate in that he was found safe and sound.”

Christine said Theo was a bit quiet when the gardaí brought him home, but otherwise unharmed.

“I am very relieved,” she said. “It could have been a completely different outcome. It is good news all round and I am very grateful to the gardaí and to James Ryan for staying with him.

“The ifs and buts of what could have happened went through my head all day yesterday, but I can’t dwell on that. It could have happened to anyone. I am just happy with the outcome.”