Ireland's Madeleine McCann
6-year-old Irish girl, Mary Boyle vsnished on the border of County Donegal & County Fermznagh on March 18th 1977.
Mary has never been found even after the paasing of 48 years, no remains, clothing, she just blatantly vanished.
Mary was born a twin in Sparkhill, Birmingham UK on June 14th 1970 but was of Irish family origin.
The 6-year-old was last seen close to her grandparents farm in Cashelard, Ballyshannon in County Donegal at around 3.30pm.
Mary and some other children were playing out when she saw her uncle heading out to return a ladder that he had borrowed from another farm across the hill. Mary followed her uncle for about half of the 400 yard journey before she came to a deep puddle of water that she was not able to walk through so she turned back toward her playmates just five minutes away,but she never returned.
The family soon discovered that Mary was missing and began a search of the area but to no avail, Mary had vanished.
Interestingly, a local fisherman said that he had seen Mary Boyle being put into a red car and driven from the area. He was not able to say the make or model of the car so it is not clear whether he even saw the incident or if inded he was covering for himself or others.
A lot of the land surrounding the farm was boggy marshlandand various bogs were drained in search for 6-year-old Mary, but there was no trace.
Mary's twin sister said that when Mary was last seen she was eating a packet of crisps (potato chips) so if she had fallen into a bog the packet would have floated and if she had been snatched violently she would almost certainly have dropped the packet, but it was not found.
The Irish Gardai filmed a reconstruction of events surrounding Mary's disappearance using her twin sister Ann as her double.
There has also been various documentaries broadcast with searches of adjoining land and hillsides, still no sign of Mary.
Some rather disturbing information in connection with this strange case is that it is said that there was political interference in the investigation.
It has been alleged that a politician had telephoned the Gardai and told them not to detain or question their main suspect. I will not name the politician but it is right to say that he denied any such actions and said "It is bare-faced lies". I am not saying that the allegation can therefore be dismissed but it does seem likely the allagtion was untrue.
It is fair to say that many cases similar to this one often attract conspiracy theorists who concoct all manner of stories, including "stolen by the red shoes club" and "links to free masons who harm children as part of their induction". Those theorists don't actually realise the harm that they do to investigations by sending people off 'down the rabbit hole' on pointless enquiries.
In 2016 a media personality, Gemma O'Doherty produced a TV documentary Mary Boyle, The Untold Story in which she looked at various reasons for Mary's disappearance including allegations that the 6-year-old was sexually abused and murdered. Whilst that theory would make sense, it is just that, a theory.
The fact remains that various suspects have been interviewed by the Gardai but all have been released without charge.
It has also been suggested that Scottish serial child killer, Robert Black could have been a suspect as he was a cross country van driver and often visited County Donegal as part of his work. As far as I can ascertain Black was never questioned about his possible involvement in the disappearance and ultimate murder of Mary Boyle.
Mary's twin sister Ann and some of her relatives have often claimed that they know what happened to Mary including who was repsonsible for the child going missing but, they have not named the suspect publicly.
Obviously, these claims have caused considerable unrest in the Boyle family and lead to some mass division because others do not hold the same beliefs with the twins mother, Ann saying that her surviving daughter's appeals and claims were "The most ridiculous carry on I have ever heard".
It is worth just revisiting the conspiracy theorists; There have recently been a number of suggestions on social media that the case of Missing Mary Boyle and the case of Missing Madeleine McCann may be linked with it being suggested that Madeleine's mother Kate could be Mary's sister, which of course is nonsense.
Kate McCann was an only child and would have been about 5 years old when Mary vanished. She attended an all girls school in Liverpool and we have found absolutely no connection between Mrs McCann and the Boyles.
Obviously due to the considerable time difference, some 30 years and two months between when Mary vanished in County Donegal and when Madeleine McCann vanished in Portugal.
This is a very curious case and I for one would love to speak to Mary's twin, Ann to discuss her theories.
As usual if you have any knowledge or would like to discuss this case or any other please get in touch: [email protected]
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