SEARCHES ARE TAKING place by gardaí in Glenfin, Co Donegal for the remains of Arlene Arkinson, a girl from Co Tyrone who went missing 30 years ago.

Arlene, from Castlederg, was 15 years old when she disappeared in August 1994 following a night out at a disco in Bundoran, Co Donegal. For many years, police believed the girl had been murdered.

In 2021, an Omagh coroner concluded that Arlene was murdered by convicted child killer Robert Howard on 14 August 1994, on the balance of probability. The girl was last seen in a car driven by Howard, who died in prison in England in 2015, aged 71.

Howard had previously been acquitted of the 15 year old’s murder in 2005, but remained the prime suspect.

Coroner Brian Sherrard said at the end of the 14-year inquest in 2021: “Robert Howard – a violent sexual offender and the last person to be seen with Arlene, in the early hours of 14 August 1994 – was responsible for her death.”

A spokesperson for An Garda Síochána confirmed to The Journal that searches have been ongoing in Glenfin since yesterday morning. No further information is available at this time, they added.