Irish Sunday Mirror

Perplexing saga is still a mystery

- BY PAT FLANAGAN, MIRROR JOURNALIST WHO FIRST REPORTED ON CASE IN 2008

ALONG with schoolboy Philip Cairns and Deirdre Jacob, the disappeara­nce of Amy Fitzpatric­k is one of the most baffling missing person cases in Irish history.

Like many journalist­s who reported on Amy it is hard not to become involved. It doesn’t add up how a teenager can simply vanish without trace almost within sight of her home.

I was on my way to Malaga airport within hours of hearing of her disappeara­nce.

And back then we could not have known that almost 16 years on we would not be much wiser as to what happened to the 15-year-old.

There are many questions about her disappeara­nce which remain unanswered.

In a recent interview with the Irish Mirror, Amy’s stepfather and convicted killer Dave Mahon claims before the teenager vanished they were living the high life in Spain.

MOTHER

I spoke to Ashley Rose and her mother Debbie back in January 2008 and again several years later and they tell the same story.

They told me Amy wanted to go home to Dublin and intended never to come back to Spain.

Ashley revealed: “Amy said to me, ‘I’ve not told my mum but once I’m in Ireland I’m never coming back. I’m going to stay with my dad’.”

The truth is Amy felt alone in Spain and was very unhappy and in diary entries, she wrote: “I smell of dog s**t and I haven’t had a shower in two years.”

There is also the question of Amy’s mysterious phone.

Her Irish handset was found in her family’s apartment but Ashley and Debbie have made statements to police claiming she had that phone with her when she left their home.

How did that phone get to the apartment if Amy had been snatched on the path?

This appears to indicate she made it home and disappeare­d later.

Such a scenario blows open the police theory that she was abducted on her way back and it’s one that has not been investigat­ed properly.

 ?? ?? APPEAL Pat with poster about Amy
APPEAL Pat with poster about Amy
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