Missing Mary Boyle
A fisherman who initially told Gardai about Mary Boyle’s disappearance has claimed he saw the child being driven away in a red car.
PJ Coughlan said he is now prepared to co-operate with Gardai in a bid to help Gardai finally solve the case of the missing Donegal schoolgirl.
Mr Coughhlan said he red Volkswagen Beetle, just minutes before her mother and uncle came looking for her.
Mr Coughlan, who is now 73, told Gardai about the car, but it wasn’t included in his statement.
He told the Irish Daily Star newspaper he believes a Garda ignored what he said about the car, because Gardai already had a suspect.
Mr Coughlan says he will fully cooperate with the new garda Cold Case probe into Mary’s disappearance close to her grandparents’ home at Cashelard, Ballyshannon.
“I believe I saw Mary being driven away in a red car,” he said.
Meanwhile the singer Margo O’Donnell has said she believes the truth about what happened to missing Mary Boyle will be discovered if gardaí arrest the man she believes was behind the schoolgirl’s disappearance.
Ms O’Donnell, a cousin of Mary’s late father, Charles, said she believed a YouTube documentary about the case, which was blocked for a time on Tuesday but has become available again, has created a new spark in the investigation.
The Garda’s Serious Crime Review Team is to examine the case.
“I honestly believe that if this person is questioned, then the truth will come out. He has never been arrested in connection with Mary’s disappearance,” Ms O’Donnell said.
The YouTube documentary, Mary Boyle: The Untold Story, was produced by journalist Gemma O’Doherty. It includes two interviews with retired gardaí, who claimed a politician had interfered with the Garda investigation.
Ms O’Donnell said she had approached the politician at the time of the disappearance.
“I went up to him and I put it to him that he prevented the arrest of this man. He denied it, said it was untrue and called me a bare-faced liar,” she said.
Meanwhile missing Mary;s mum Ann Boyle told today’s Donegal Democrat that she welcomes a new Garda investigation into her daughter’s case.
“I have great faith in the guards, they have always done their job, they never stopped looking for Mary,” she said.
