Garda sources confirmed last night that the body discovered dumped in east Cork yesterday afternoon was that of missing schoolboy, Robert Holohan. Barry Roche, Southern Correspondent, reports from Midleton
Garda officers confirmed off the record to The Irish Times that the body was that of young Robert who disappeared after leaving his home at Ballyedmond near Midleton on the afternoon of January 4th.
Detectives investigating the boy's abduction and murder are hoping that a post-mortem examination today by State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy will help them reduce the number of possible suspects.
Gardaí are focussing their investigation on a number of sex offenders in the east Cork area, although they haven't ruled out the possibility that Robert's abductor and killer may be from the UK.
According to Garda sources, the fact that Robert's body was found in a quiet overgrown glen off a cul de sac leading to Inch Strand tends to suggest that it was dumped there by somebody with local knowledge.
However, they are also considering the possibility that it may be somebody from the UK who was visiting the area and they were last night looking for a UK registered car and another foreign registered car at car parks around Cork city including at Cork Airport.
Descriptions of the vehicles were withheld from the public but circulated to detective branches throughout Cork in the hope that officers might track them down.
The discovery of Robert's body came on the eighth day of an extensive search for him and follows a series of appeals by his father, Mark and mother, Majella.
Yesteday, Supt Liam Hayes of Midleton visited the family at their home at Ballyedmond to inform them of the discovery.
He also briefed them on what course the Garda investigation will take from here.
Last night, the couple - who have two other children, eight-year-old Emma and four-year-old Harry - were said to be "extremely distraught" and were being comforted by relatives and friends.
While the investigation into Robert's disappearance was officially classified as a missing person investigation, from as early as January 5th gardaí had been considering the possibility that he had been abducted.
A team of detectives began visiting convicted and registered sex offenders in the east Cork area last Thursday and over the past weekend, they broadened these enquiries to registered and convicted sex offenders throughout Cork city and county.
It's understood that detectives spoke to more than 50 people with sex offence convictions and it's expected that officers will revisit many of these over the coming days once they've received details from the post-mortem.
Robert's body was kept at the scene last night and Dr Cassidy is expected to arrive at around 9 a.m. this morning to carry out a preliminary examination of the remains.
The body will then be taken to Cork University Hospital where Dr Cassidy will carry out a post-mortem but it's expected that the results of that autopsy won't be known until this afternoon at the earliest.
Gardaí have discounted any link between the discovery of Robert's body and the recovery of the body of an man who was known to have had a history of psychiatric illness from the Owenacurra River in Midleton town yesterday afternoon.