Arlene Arkinson disappearance: Council backs call for public inquiry

Derry City and Strabane Council has backed calls for Justice Minister Naomi Long to establish a full public inquiry into the RUC investigation into Arlene Arkinson’s disappearance.

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

She was last seen in a car driven by convicted child killer and rapist Robert Howard, and her body has never been found.

Sinn Féin Councillor Ruairí McHugh, a classmate of Arlene at St. Patrick’s Primary School, brought the motion to council.

He said: “This July at the conclusion of the inquest into what happened to Arlene, the coroner concluded that she had been murdered and her body secreted somewhere in this jurisdiction by Robert Howard.

“Howard was a serial sex offender.

Colr. McHugh said there remain ‘many unanswered questions around Arlene’s case’. “We need to support the Arkinson family in their call to the Justice Minister for the establishment of a full public enquiry into this whole sordid affair.

“This is essentially the last legal recourse for Arlene’s family and it may even help locate Arlene’s remains which would bring some sort of closure to Arlene’s family by affording them the right to have a Christian burial for Arlene.

DUP Alderman Keith Kerrigan offered his party’s support, agreeing that ‘there are questions that need to be answered.’

UUP Alderman Ryan McCready called the disappearance and murder of Arlene as ‘wholly abhorrent.’ He said: “I want to thank the Member given his personal connection from when he grew up and the fact he told us and it wasn’t filtered.

Members voted in favour of the motion with the exception of the two Alliance councillors who abstained.