12-year-old special needs boy missing

A distraught mother whose special needs son has vanished from his east Belfast home, was tonight praying for his safe return.

Robert Guiney, 12, has not been seen since going out to play on Monday last week.

Despite relentless searches of the streets and parks near the Cregagh Road where they live, his family have found no clue to his whereabouts.

Robert’s mother Sharon said his behavioural problems have added to her worries.

With the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambridgeshire etched on her mind, she told PA News: “I’m going out of my mind with worry.

“Since Holly and Jessica I’m thinking the worst, especially as Robert hasn’t been seen on the road.

“He’s like a wee baby, so gullible and ready to talk with anybody and go with them.”

Robert suffers from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and is dyslexic and unable to concentrate for long periods.

His problems mean he has not attended school for four years, although he was due to enrol at an education resource centre in the city tomorrow.

Ms Guiney, a single mother of five, insisted the 12-year-old had been excited about getting back into the classroom.

She also ruled out the theory that he may be staying away because he had been in trouble.

“He’s the type of wee boy who gets involved in silly things, but he knows I can’t stay cross with him,” she said.

In the past, Robert has stayed away from home for up to two nights, although his mother said she was always comforted by sightings of him from friends and neighbours.

His family have sat up late every night since his disappearance in the hope he will walk back through the door of their Glendower Street home.

As the Police Service of Northern Ireland launched a renewed appeal for any sightings on Robert, his mother said: “He can be a loner but he tends to get in with an older crowd and none of them have seen him.

“The police have been great and we have all been out searching round the parks every night to see if he is there.

“But he hasn’t even contacted my oldest boy, who is like a father figure to him.”