Dublin: IRA Hitman Still To Be Ruled Out 'As A Suspect' In Annie McCarrick's 1993 Disappearance

Crumbling loyalties could lead to breakthroughs in many of the missing women cases, according to a senior garda who investigated them.

Retired detective sergeant Alan Bailey told the Irish Examiner that people have “covered up” for those responsible in a number of the cases, either out of love of fear.

In a forthcoming book about the six missing women, Mr Bailey reveals that an IRA hitman was the only suspect in the Annie McCarrick case yet to be ruled out of the investigation into her disappearance in March 1993.

Gardaí believe the suspect was subsequently flown out of the North by the IRA to the US after claims he sexually assaulted the daughter of a republican.

The revelations, first reported in yesterday’s Sunday World, come against the backdrop of reports that IRA men alleged to have sexually abused girls were sent out of the North to escape prosecution.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner in the run-up to the publication of his book, Missing, Presumed, Mr Bailey said the loyalty of people close to those involved in the disappearances “doesn’t last forever”.

He said: “There are a number of missing persons cases where people are aware of what happened and who committed the crimes, who have covered up for years and years out of misplaced loyalty of one form or another.”

Mr Bailey worked as a detective for 13 years in Operation Trace — the investigation into the six cases — and afterwards in the Serious Crime Review Team, which continued the work.

As well Ms McCarrick’s case, his book covers the investigations into Eva Brennan, who went missing in Dublin in July 1993; Fiona Pender, who disappeared in Offaly in November 1995; Ciara Breen, who went missing in Louth in February 1997; Deirdre Jacob, who disappeared in Kildare in July 1998; and Fiona Sinnott, from went missing in Wexford in February 1998.

Mr Bailey said the loyalty of people was based either on love or fear, adding that “fear is as strong as an emotion as love”. He was hopeful that these people — which may now be former girlfriends or partners — will at some stage decide to talk to the gardaí.

“That loyalty doesn’t last forever and the recent developments in the Fiona Pender case is an example of that, hopefully,” he said.

This is a reference to the recent arrest abroad of the main suspect in her case for a suspected assault on another woman. This woman gave police information in relation to Ms Pender which she said the suspect had told her.

Ms Pender, aged 25, was pregnant when she disappeared from her home in Tullamore on August 26, 1996. Gardaí from Tullamore have flown to the country and spoken to the woman.

In Ms McCarrick’s case, Mr Bailey said the IRA hitman still had to be eliminated from the investigation.

“A large number of people were nominated as potential suspects,” said Mr Bailey. He said all of those suspects were investigated and ruled out, “except this one”.

The man is still thought to be in the US, but Mr Bailey hopes that, in time, he will come back to Ireland and be questioned.
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Rathfarnham, Dublin: Father Of Missing Person Philip Cairns Dies: *UPDATED

*THE father of missing Dublin schoolboy Philip Cairns has died without ever discovering what has happened to his son.
Philip Cairns snr, passed away peacefully following an illness.

Mr Cairns had campaigned relentlessly to find answers after his son disappeared while walking back from school in 1986 in Rathfarnham.

Disappearance

Mr Cairns was surrounded by his family at Tallaght Hospital when he died, just three months shy of the 28th anniversary of his son's disappearance.

He is survived by his wife, Alice and five of their six children, Mary, Sandra, Helen, Suzanne and Eoin. Philip (13) disappeared on the afternoon of 23 October 1986 while walking back to his school, Colaiste Eanna, where he had been a first year student for just over a month.

A large-scale investigation was carried out but no trace of the boy was ever found.

Mysteriously, his schoolbag was subsequently discovered lying in a laneway linking Anne Devlin Road and Anne Devlin Drive, which had previously been searched.

The bag contained some of Philip's books, but his geography book and two religion books (Christian Way 1 and the Good News New Testament) were missing.

Forensic tests on the bag did not reveal any information.

On the 20th anniversary of his disappearance in 2006, the family appealed for anyone with information about Philip's disappearance to get in contact with gardai in confidence.

Philip's brother Eoin, who was two years younger and was 11 when his only brother disappeared described how the intervening period had been extremely difficult for his parents and the whole family.

Birthdays

"Philip is always there in the sense that he is not there. At Christmas, birthdays, weddings and other family occasions we think of how Philip should be with us," he said.

He described how Philip had been his best friend and how they had played soccer in their back garden and how the young boy had loved to go fishing with his father.

Local Fianna Fail councillor John Lahart said he had grown up on the road where the Cairns family lived, saying: "Philip has never been forgotten by the people of Ballyroan."

"Philip Senior's death will be felt very much by the people here. That loss will be felt by everybody," he added.

He said that Alice Cairns was a very visible presence in the local community, adding that she was a "lovely, gentle spiritual person."

The funeral of Philip Senior takes place on Wednesday at the Holy Spirit Church, Ballyroan.
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Phil Cairns was surrounded by his family as he passed away peacefully at Tallaght Hospital on Sunday.

He is survived by wife Alice and their six children as well as extended family and friends.

Philip was just 13 when he disappeared while on his way back to school on October 23, 1986.

Philip had left the family home on Ballyroan Road in Rathfarnham to return to the local Colaiste Eanna school where he was a first year student.

The garda file on the disappearance of Philip Cairns remains open.

His family have never given up hope that they would find out what happened to him.

Hundreds are expected to attend the removal and funeral of Mr Cairns.

His removal to the Holy Spirit Church, Ballyroan, will be at 5.30pm on Tuesday.

The funeral will take place at 10am on Wednesday, with burial immediately afterwards in Mount Venus Cemetery.