Gardaí mount new search for body of Fiona Pender

Gardaí have mounted a new search for the body of missing Offaly woman Fiona Pender.

Officers are understood to have sealed off a wooded area in the Slieve Bloom mountains as part of the operation.

Ms Pender was 25 years old and pregnant when she went missing in August 1996 from her flat in Tullamore.

Last May, a small wooden cross with her name written on it was found close to a walkway in the Slieve Bloom mountains.

Technical experts conducted a search in the area, but failed to find anything.