Disappearance of Philip Cairns

Philip Cairns (born 1 September 1973) is an Irish child who disappeared while walking back to school in South Dublin from his home in Ballyroan on 23 October 1986. A large-scale investigation was carried out, but no trace of Cairns has ever been found.^[1][2] His disappearance is now treated as a high-profile child murder case.^[3] It remains one of the most high-profile disappearances in recent Irish history.^[4]

Philip Cairns
Born	Philip Cairns (1973-09-01)1 September 1973 Ireland
Disappeared	23 October 1986 (aged 13) Ireland
Status	Missing for 38 years, 9 months and 25 days

Cairns' family have issued numerous appeals for information. A reconstruction took place in 2007 and was later televised on RTÉ One, while a reward of €10,000 has also been offered. The book When Heaven Waits, published in 2007, featured an interview with Cairns' mother. No suspect has been arrested in the case.^[4] The case remains open.

Disappearance

"The very sad fact is that life went on after we lost Philip. I can remember we all went out and helped with the search, it was the neighbourly thing to do. But after a while you had to just get on with things. Young people, I think, are more resilient about things like that, they are able to forget more easily and put things behind them."

Brendan Vaughan, former principal of Philip's school, Coláiste Éanna in Rathfarnham.^[5]

Philip Cairns disappeared while returning to school in Rathfarnham.^[6][7] He had departed Coláiste Éanna secondary school at 12:45 to go home for lunch.^[8][9][10] He left his home at 13:30 to return to Coláiste Éanna.^[8][9][10] There have been no confirmed sightings of the boy since.^[8] His family believe he was abducted by someone who knew him personally.^[5]

Speculation at his school the day after his disappearance had Philip being kidnapped by a "bad man" who had offered him sweets then lured him into a van.^[5]

Investigation

Several hundred Garda Síochána officers and divers took part in a large-scale search of forests, lakes, mountains and rivers.^[8] Psychics and clairvoyants were called in to assist.^[5] Posters were distributed by milk companies.^[11] Cairns' classmates were interviewed by Gardaí at the school during their mid-term holiday break the following week.^[11]

Six days after his disappearance, two girls discovered Philip's school bag in an alley near his house.^[8][9][12] The lane had already been searched, and the bag was not there at that time.^[4] The school bag was thought to hold vital clues, but how it came to be in the lane is unknown.^[6] It is believed that the bag had only been in the alleyway a short time before it was discovered.^[13] It was examined forensically but no clues were located. Philip's implements, including pens, pencils, copybook, maths textbook, school journal and his pencil case were within.^[7][13] Some of Philip's books were missing, including a geography book and two religion books.^{[4][5][9][10][12][13]} A forensic examination produced no clues as to Philip's whereabouts.^[9] Gardaí sealed the bag and it is now locked in a safe.^[5][14]

Over 400 sightings were reported in the aftermath of the boy's disappearance.^[8][11] In one, Philip was reportedly seen in Manchester in the United Kingdom after his disappearance.^[5] Each sighting was seriously investigated, but none led to Philip.

Philip's parents appeared regularly on the news and clutched what has become a well-recognised picture of Philip smiling in confirmation clothes of a blue jacket and a red rosette.^[5] This photo has been deemed a precursor to that of British infant Madeleine McCann, who disappeared in Portugal 21 years later.^[5] However, the family, unlike the McCanns, have been relatively private about their loss, speaking to the media only occasionally in the past 25 years.^[5] It has been reported that this is due to several inaccurate reports of the incident of which they have disapproved.^[5] Gardaí have, however, praised the media as a proven method for encouraging people to come forward with information on the case each time an appeal is broadcast.^[5] Residents' organisation ACRA also launched an intense campaign to attempt to find Philip.^[12]

Several theories were reported by the media, most of which were discounted by investigators. These have ranged from death by accident to Philip being taken by extremists such as paedophiles and Satanists.^[5] One theory had a woman tell gardaí that her partner, an alleged paedophile, had killed Philip after abducting him.^[5] This was later declared a false allegation.^[5]

“I hoped every day for months. I left the light on in the hall downstairs and in the bed at night. I used to listen to see if he would come in the door. You would be hoping the phone would ring and that would be him."

Alice Cairns, speaking in the book When Heaven Waits.^[5]

Detectives based at Rathfarnham Garda Station have been reinvestigating the disappearance of Philip Cairns for several years.^[7] Several searches of land have occurred since the disappearance, often without the media being informed.^[7]

In October 2006, the Cairns family appealead for information on the twentieth anniversary of the disappearance.^[6][15] They said they had not given up hope of finding him alive.^[4] A special Mass was held to mark the occasion.^[14][15] A further appeal for information was launched following the twenty-first anniversary of Philip's disappearance in 2007, when it emerged that over 50 people had approached investigators individually and provided new lines of inquiry.^[13] That month saw a reconstruction of Philip's typical school route being broadcast on RTÉ One's Crimecall television series and the Irish Crimestoppers Trust offering a €10,000 reward for information.^{[10][12][13][16]} Within one day, over 80 people had been in contact with Gardaí or Crimestoppers in what was described as a "tremendous response".^[16]

In May 2009, investigators searched a stretch of private, wooded south Dublin land near a golf club on the M50 motorway.^[7][17][18] On 6 May, the area was sealed off and vegetation cleared.^[7] Specialist equipment and finger tip examination techniques were used in an attempt to detect evidence of soil movement.^[7] A second search was carried out around 50 metres away later that month.^[8][9] An elderly woman from Dublin told Gardaí that Cairns was murdered and later buried at both sites.^[8][10] She said that a man she was in a relationship with some time before confessed to killing Philip.^[19] Despite the involvement of geophysicists,^[20] the searches both proved to be a failure.^[21][22] The man is now a pensioner who lives in Rathfarnham, and cannot be charged due to lack of evidence.^[19]

In 2020, former detective Alan Bailey stated he believes the person behind Philip’s disappearance knew the area well. He stated:^[23]

“It certainly wasn’t a random stranger or random grab off the street." “I think with the bag being dumped back in the same area it would suggest to me that whoever went back with that bag was comfortable in the area.

— Alan Bailey, speaking to the Irish Sunday Mirror

2016 investigation

In May 2016 a woman contacted Gardaí to tell them that she suspected former disk jockey and convicted paedophile Eamonn Cooke killed Cairns.^[24][25] She claimed that she witnessed Cooke strike Cairns with a blunt implement at the Radio Dublin studios in Inchicore.^[26]

Gardaí questioned Cooke and he reportedly confirmed that he knew Phillip, inter alia, but did not reveal the location of Philip's body.^[24][25] He died in June 2016.^[25]

In August 2016 it was announced that DNA samples taken from Philips' schoolbag did not match Cooke, but he had not been ruled out as a suspect.^[27][28] Gardaí also sought to identify two people who may have left Philips' schoolbag in the laneway.^[27][28]

In October 2016, 30 years after Philip was last seen, a mass gathering took place at the location his bag was found. ^[29]

Family

Philip's mother is Alice Cairns and his father was Philip Cairns, Snr.^[15] Alice is a grandmother now and lights a candle each evening in memory of her missing son.^[5] Philip has four sisters, Mary, Sandra, Helen and Suzanne.^[15] Sandra and Suzanne are active in organisations promoting missing children.^[5] He has one younger brother, Eoin, who was 11 years of age when Philip disappeared.^[15] Eoin has spoken of his memories of Philip which include childhood games of soccer, fishing and hurling.^[15]

His father, Phil, died on 6 July 2014 at Tallaght Hospital.^[30]

Impact

The disappearance of Philip Cairns affected the entire country.^[5] The case was particularly unusual because it happened in the early afternoon and prompted parents to fear for the safety of their children, even in broad daylight.^[5]

See also

• List of people who disappeared
• Disappearance of Mary Boyle – Ireland's longest missing child case