THE POLICE Service of Northern Ireland has started a “major search” to recover the body of a 15-year-old girl who disappeared 17 years ago.
Arlene Arkinson from Castlederg in Co Tyrone went missing on August 14th, 1994, after a night out in Bundoran, Co Donegal.
She is believed to have been abducted and murdered.
Robert Howard, a convicted child-killer and rapist, was charged with her murder but acquitted during a 2005 trial.
The jury was not aware he was serving a life sentence for the 2001 murder of 14-year-old schoolgirl Hannah Williams from London.
Yesterday, a team of officers using specialist sniffer dogs started searches on land at Scraghy Road between Castlederg and Ederney in Co Fermanagh, where Arlene was last seen getting into a blue Metro car.
It is believed to be one of 40 sites that will be searched in the coming months.
Arlene’s sister Kathleen Arkinson said her family’s hopes had been built up by the search.
“Arlene is lying out there and it’s not fair. All we want to do is bring her home, bury her and put her along with her mother, father and our other sister Mary, who passed away in 2002,” she said.
“The whole family’s here and I just hope the outcome’s good. It’s been very difficult. If Arlene is not found in this search I don’t know where we’re going to go to.”
The PSNI says the search has taken six months to plan, using the latest computer technology and in consultation with experts in England.
Det Supt Raymond Murray, the officer in charge of the investigation, said the youngster’s family “has been in torment” since she disappeared.
“We want to do everything we possibly can to reunite Arlene with her family. Despite the considerable time gap and the challenges involved in locating remains, we will do everything we possibly can to achieve this.
“The police investigation has been extensive and there has been a court case but I would not rule out the possibility that there is information in the local community which still has not been provided to detectives.
“We owe it to Arlene and her family to do our utmost to bring her home and to bring her killer to justice.
“This series of searches and related investigative activity are the latest phase in our efforts to achieve these objectives.”
Police have also launched a special telephone line for information relating to Arlene’s case.