On Thursday the 26th of October 1986, Philip Cairns left his Ballyroan Road home after eating his lunch. He was headed back to school. But he never made it there. An intensive search followed, but there were no signs of the 13 year old. 

A week later, his school bag was found in a nearby laneway, left there by persons unknown. Despite searches of the Rathfarnham area, including rivers, overgrown areas, large parklands and in the foothills of the Dublin mountains, there was no further sign of the school boy.

What became of Philip Cairns?

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Theme Music:

Quinn’s Song: The Dance Begins Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Additional Music:   Allemande (Sting) by Wahneta Meixsell. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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Sources:

“07. Philip Cairns” Scannal RTE (15 September 2020) Find it here: https://www.rte.ie/player/series/scannal/SI0000001504?epguid=IH000391879&seasonguid=76848680318

Michael Lavery and Tom Reddy, “Gardai step up hunt for schoolboy, 13” in The Evening Herald (28 October 1986) p. 1.

Willie Dillon, “No sign yet of missing student” in The Irish Independent (28 October 1986) p. 3.

Michael Lavery, “A family that waits and prays” in The Evening Herald (29 October 1986) p. 3.

Bairbre Power and Tom Reddy, “Philip – Quiz for pupils” in The Evening Herald (29 October 1986) p. 1.

“Family, plea to missing boy (13)” in The Irish Independent (29 October 1986) p. 11.

Tom Reddy, “Diviner called in to aid boy search” in The Irish Independent (30 October 1986) p. 11.

Bairbre Power and Ken Curran, “First Clue: New mystery as Philip's bag is found” in The Evening Herald (30 October 1986) p. 1-2.

John Healy and Frank Khan, “Philip's school bag is found in lane” in The Irih Independent (30 October 1986) p. 1.

Bairbre Power and Tom Reddy, “Friends in vigil for Philip” in The Evening Herald (3 October 1986) p. 1.

Tom Reddy, “Missing boy's bag 'planted' – gardai” in The Irish Independent (31 October 1986) p. 11.

“Subauqa Unit used in search” in The Irish Times (31 October 1986) p. 9.

Alan O'Keefe, “Philip: 'keep up prayers' plea” in The Evening Herald (1 November 1986) p. 2.

Alan O'Keefe, “Prayer vigil for missing boy” in The Irish Independent (1 November 1986) p. 6.

Sean Flynn, “Search for missing schoolboy stepped up” in The Irish Times (1 November 1986) p. 2.

“Net widens in hunt for missing boy” in The Sunday Tribune (2 November 1986) p. 1.

Fergal Keane, “The nightmare of a family who can only sit and wait” in The Sunday Tribune (2 November 1986) p. 5.

Bairbre Power and Michael Lavery, “No breakthroughs yet in Philip hunt” in The Evening Herald (3 November 1986) p. 3.

Eilish O'Regan, “People afraid to help us: gardai” in The Irish Independent (3 November 1986) p. 9.

Bairbre Power, “Phillip: Bid to jog minds” in The Evening Herald (4 November 1986) p. 1.

For a full list of sources please see mensreapod.com