Detectives probe conflicting claims over boy's death

"The only way we have of knowing for sure is if we recover the boy's body and a postmortem tells us what happened," a source said last night.

- BY MICHAEL O'TOOLE Crime and Defence Editor

The case has chilling echoes to that of little Kyran Durnin, reported missing to gardai in Co Louth on August 30 last year. That case was upgraded to a murder probe in October.

Officers suspect Kyran may have been dead for several years.

Sources tell us that officers from Swords Garda Station who are investigating the Dublin child’s disappearance are now set to carry out a number of searches for the body.

It's understood the father is Irish-born, but moved to another country at some stage after the boy was last seen alive. The mother of the boy is from Africa and has remained living in the north Dublin area.

She was interviewed by gardai on Sunday at around the same time a property in Donabate was sealed off and searched by detectives.