MARY BOYLE’S MOTHER has renewed her appeal for information about her daughter’s death on the 40th anniversary of her disappearance.
Mary was just six years old when she vanished while visiting her grandparents in Cashelard, Ballyshannon, Co Donegal on 18 March 1977. No trace of her has ever been found since.
Her disappearance is Ireland’s longest-running missing person case.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Prime Time tonight, Mary’s mother Ann Boyle said she believes her daughter made it to the nearby road which links the townland of Cashelard with Belleek in Co Fermanagh on the day she disappeared.
Mary’s twin sister Ann Doherty has previously said she believes Mary was murdered and has called for an inquest to be held, while her mother – also called Ann – does not want this. Prime Time said Ann Doherty declined to be interviewed for tonight’s programme.
“I’ve begged to know for 40 years what happened to Mary. I don’t want an inquest that Mary is dead. I want to believe that Mary is still alive somewhere. I have to live that way,” her mother said.
Ann’s granddaughter Mary Duffy also spoke to Prime Time.
“It’s very sad to think this is the place Mary went missing. It’s sad because I never got to meet Mary, and you just feel a sense of loss because this is where she was,” she said.
Ann also spoke about receiving hate mail in recent times, recalling:
One was a Christmas card and the other was a letter, and the stuff that was in it was shocking – that threatened my life, and frightened the life out of me. One of them started off like it was from Mary. I mean, my God. That made me ill … I wasn’t able to cope with it, I just threw it away.
Her granddaughter Mary said the hateful mail was very distressing for her grandmother, stating: “It’s horrible and nanny’s afraid to be in her own home and no one should be left like that, it’s horrible.”
Clothing
Gardaí have released images of clothing similar to that worn by Mary when she disappeared four decades ago, a lilac-coloured cardigan and black wellington boots.
Her twin sister Ann wore identical clothes that day, and those images were shown on Prime Time tonight.
Chief Superintendent Walter O’Sullivan of the Serious Crime Review Team said a full review of the case is currently being undertaken, and seeks to identify every person who was in Cashelard on the day Mary disappeared.
“Although a rural area, there would have been a number of people in the area, living there, farming, visiting, driving through.
When a child goes missing it goes right into the heart of a community, it struggles to understand why this has been visited on their community. The community has provided information confidentially, anonymously and through making statements.
“I believe there is further information to be obtained and I am appealing for people to come forward,” O’Sullivan said.
Gardaí have asked anyone with information on Mary’s disappearance to contact the incident room in Ballyshannon on 071 985 8530 or the Garda Serious Crime Review Team on 01 666 3444.
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