They say time heals but I deal with this every day John opens up about tragic family in documentary

FIONA BROTHER’S NEW FILM MARKS

died last year. In the documentary he recalls the tragic history of his family from his brother Mark’s death after a motorbike accident in 1995 to Fiona’s disappearance a year later and, in 2000, the suicide of his father Sean.

He revealed: “They say time heals, you know, but it’s something that I deal with daily. You’ve good days and bad days. As a family we were very close.

“Losing Mark in 1995, that was the first split, that ruptured the family.

“I can remember Fiona, she was on the ground, she couldn’t stand with the shock. It destroyed us. I felt like my whole world was turned upside down. I was 12. It affected me deeply, affected all of us. A year after in 1996, that was another blow.” John has fond memories of his older sister who worked as a hairdresser and parttime model and says she always turned heads when they walked into town.

He said: “She was bright and bubbly. It was only when I got older that I realised how pretty and attractive she was.”

Fiona was last seen at the one-bed flat she shared with her boyfriend on Church Street in Tullamore, Co Offaly. She was 25. In recent years gardai have identified a suspect in the case but to date no one has been charged in connection with her disappearance.

In an apparent breakthrough in 2014, land in Co Laois was excavated after a tip-off about her burial site but nothing was found.

Gardai later said they suspected the female witness who came forward may have been deliberately misled by the suspect.

In the documentary, produced by Damo Connolly and Matthew Blaney, John added: “I can remember the last time I spoke to her.

“I went down to visit her in her flat. I remember rubbing her belly. I’ll never forget it.” He said his parents did

There’s times when I’ve wanted to grab a shovel and turn Offaly upside down JOHN PENDER, LEFT, ON SEARCH FOR MISSING SISTER