Gardaí have carried out searches for missing schoolgirl Arlene Arkinson in Co Donegal, some 30 years after she disappeared.
Arlene, from Castlederg in Co Tyrone, has not been seen since she went missing on August 13th, 1994 after a night out in Bundoran. She was 15 years old when she disappeared.
A Garda spokesman confirmed that searches for her body have been ongoing since Tuesday in Glenfin, an area in the centre of Co Donegal.
“We have no further information at this time,” the spokesman said.
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In 2021, a long-running inquest in Co Tyrone found that convicted murderer and paedophile Robert Howard was responsible for the death of Ms Arkinson, on the balance of probability. She was last seen travelling in a car driven by Howard.
Howard, originally from Co Laois, was charged with her murder in 2002, but acquitted in 2005. He died in prison in England in 2015 while serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of Hannah Williams (14) from London.
Coroner Brian Sherrard, who presided over Ms Arkinson’s inquest at Omagh courthouse, said Howard killed her.
“Robert Howard, a violent sexual offender, and the last person to be seen with Arlene in the early hours of August 14th, 1994, was responsible for her death. The mechanism of death is unknown,” the coroner said at the time.
Despite extensive searches, Ms Arkinson’s body has never been found. In 2018, a body exhumed in Co Sligo as part of a search for her was ultimately found to not be hers.
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