Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Grave to be dug up in search for murdered Arlene
Inquest told of new development
A GRAVE may be dug up during a probe into the murder of Arlene Arkinson, an inquest has heard.
The schoolgirl, from Castlederg in Co Tyrone, went missing in 1994 following a night out across the border in nearby Co Donegal.
The 15-year-old’s body has never been found and an inquest into her death began in Belfast in February 2016.
Legal proceedings have been stalled for months awaiting information from the Irish authorities. A barrister told a preliminary hearing yesterday a Danish woman may have further information to give to investigators.
Ronan Daly said: “There is an application currently for exhumation of a grave in relation to inquiries.” Coroner, judge Brian Sherrard, told the court: “This is a matter that is of some considerable sensitivity and nothing of any great detail can be discussed in the environment with regard to it.”
The teenager was last seen with child killer Robert Howard, who died in prison in 2015.
He was acquitted of the murder by a jury unaware of his previous conviction for killing 14-year-old Hannah Williams, whose body was found in an industrial area close to the Thames Estuary.
Howard has always remained the PSNI’S prime suspect in the case.
Mr Daly told the hearing the possible new information arrived at the Garda’s missing persons bureau from the Irish embassy in Copenhagen, which had been contacted with alleged information about Arlene.
Mr Daly added: “That person essentially indicated she had some information in relation to the death and she was asked to email the details to the missing persons bureau but preferred to handdeliver to the Irish embassy at Copenhagen.” That never happened.
The PSNI tried to ring a phone number she gave and it did not exist.
Barrister for the Arkinson family Ivor Mcateer claimed the information was “tenuous”.
The case was adjourned until April 12.