Four people, including two teenagers, will face charges in court in Northern Ireland today in relation to the murder of a girl whose dismembered body was found in the foundations of a house.
A 26-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy are due to appear in court in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, charged with the murder of Sylvia Fleming (17). A 19-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl are to be charged with assisting in the offence.
Ms Fleming had been missing from her home in Omagh, Co Tyrone for nearly two months. She was believed to have been four months pregnant.
On Saturday detectives following a tip-off recovered part of her body on the site of a house under construction on Omagh's Circular Road.
Ms Fleming had been training as a hairdresser and working as a care assistant at a nursing home in Omagh when she disappeared on April 3rd after leaving a friend's home in Strathroy. It is understood that Ms Fleming told her friends she was going to her sister's home in Mullaghmore.
Police had carried out a series of searches, including searching of local rivers, before the tip-off led them to the house where the body was found on Saturday.
Prayers were said for the murdered teenager at the Sacred Heart Church in Omagh yesterday. Local people who knew her said they were stunned as the news spread around the rural town.
A local SDLP councillor, Mr Paddy McGowan, described the murder as horrific and said: "The whole town is so shocked and devastated at what has happened.
"You read about this kind of thing happening in England, but you never think it would happen here."
The headmistress of Ms Fleming's former secondary school, St Brigid's, in Kevlin Road, Omagh, Mrs Geraldine McCormick, said she was devastated to learn that a former pupil should have been murdered in such a terrible manner.
Ms Fleming was a bright, popular and bubbly girl who excelled at all her subjects at St Brigid's, particularly art, she said.
She said Ms Fleming had enjoyed a trouble-free time at school and was popular with teachers and pupils alike.
A local Catholic priest, Father Kevin Mullan, said Ms Fleming's family were sad and angry at what had happened to their daughter.
He added: "They are relieved her body has been found. They are sad, but they are also very angry. People are terribly frightened something like this could happen."
Results of a post-mortem have not yet been released.