Arlene Arkinson's family devastated as search ends

The family of missing Tyrone teenager Arlene Arkinson have said they will never give up hope of finding her body and of giving her a Christian burial.

The 15-year-old, from Castlederg, disappeared in August 1994 after a night out in Bundoran, County Donegal.

Gardaí (Irish police) this week confirmed that searches in Glenfin in Donegal had ended for now.

The teenager’s older sister, Kathleen Arkinson said she was devastated that the search had drawn a blank.

“The Gardaí didn’t give us too much information. We just thought that Arlene would have been there and we’re gutted,” she told BBC News NI.

“But on behalf of myself and my family and my sister Paula, we’d like to thank the Garda for all the work they done.

“They did everything that they could. They had two diggers in and they had forensics in and they definitely had a big search operation ongoing and our hopes were built up.”

Kathleen Arkinson again appealed to anyone who could help find Arlene's body to come forward.

“I just hope that anybody out there who has any information – it might be small information to them – but it could be important in finding Arlene, I’d ask them to please come forward.

“We are not going to give up hope looking for Arlene.

“We know her soul is in heaven but she needs a decent Christian burial. We just need her back home to bury her in Castlederg,” she said.

In July 2021, an inquest found she was murdered by convicted child killer and rapist Robert Howard, who died in 2015.

He had previously been charged with her murder in 2002 but was acquitted in 2005.

The jury was not told of his history of violent sexual offences and that he had already been convicted of the murder and rape of schoolgirl Hannah Williams in London.

When Arlene Arkinson disappeared, he was on bail for a series of violent sexual offences against a teenage girl.

Numerous searches have been carried out over the years, but the teenager's body has never been found.

The family's solicitor Des Doherty said the latest search had been prompted by new information given to Irish police.

“To witness Arlene’s sister Kathleen, who has fought this case for so many years, pouring holy water on the ground thinking that this was perhaps the place where Arlene was – it was very emotional,” he said.

Mr Doherty has submitted a fresh appeal to Stormont’s justice minister Naomi Long urging her to grant a public inquiry into the case.

“There’s no other alternative in this case. Our own legal system here in the North has let the Arkinson family down. That has to be corrected,” he said.

Arlene’s nephew Jason said the last week had been a deeply emotional time for the family.

“For us as a family it really got our hopes up because the information we got seemed to be real,” he said.

“I want to thank the Gardaí for what they did and for all the support we got from the public. Hopefully Arlene will come home some day to us.”