I WON’T GIVE UP ON DEAN
Pal’s vow three years after father of one went missing
Dean Roche broken heart. She wanted her son laid to rest beside her.
“The last thing she uttered to me in the hospital is, ‘Don’t forget about Dean’. That is what’s driving us now, we’re doing this for Ger.”
Dean travelled to the neighbouring townland of Ballyfoyle to buy a car the day he went missing. It was later found crashed half a mile away from where he bought it.
Gardai carried out fresh searches in woodlands nearby two months ago but it’s understood they no longer believe the remains are in the area.
Damien said: “There wasn’t an inch of ground that wasn’t searched. There’s been three years of searching with cadaver dogs and the army and not a whiff of him. A pair of runners were found in the woods but there was no trace of his DNA on them. That’s simply not possible because he would have been drenched in sweat.”
Dad-of-one Dean was a heroin addict and had convictions for petty crime but Damien says he “didn’t have a violent bone in his body”.
Dean’s niece Sophie, 19, is also begging anyone with details to come forward.
She said: “I feel the whole truth isn’t being told. Someone must know something.”
Anyone with information can contact Kilkenny Garda station at 056 7775000 or the Garda confidential line at 1800 666111.
sylvia.pownall@irishmirror.ie
Dean’s mum went to her grave not knowing DAMIEN HIPWELL ON FAMILY’S HEARTACHE