‘I was always in fear of saying it, well now my family secret is out: We knew Jimmy ran away’

Jimmy O’Neill disappeared 77 years ago, falsely accused of robbery. He was never formally interviewed, yet his brother maintains that he ran in fear of a ‘bad detective’

84-year-old Frank O’Neill with a photo of boys including his brother Jimmy who disappeared on December 15, 1947. Frank thinks Jimmy fled Waterford due to a false accusation of robbery. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins

The only remaining sibling of Ireland’s longest-missing child has claimed that a garda in Waterford “ran my brother out of Ireland” as he made a final appeal for information after more than 60 years of campaigning.