Warning over child murder complacency

By News Online's Fiona Murray

A senior police officer has warned against people being complacent about the possibility of a child abduction and murder in Northern Ireland.

Sergeant David Cranch, of the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Child Abuse and Rape Enquiry team, was speaking following the latest attempted abduction of a young boy.

A man tried to force a 12-year-old into a car in Holywood, County Down, on Sunday evening.

Police figures show that between April 1998 and March 1999 there were 30 cases of abductions, or attempted abductions, of children.

I think people in Northern Ireland think that we're such a pious country that a tragic incident like the Sarah Payne case couldn't happen in Northern Ireland

Sergeant David Cranch

In the 12 months up to April this year, there were 28 such cases.

The police believe a reduction in vehicle check points, as a result of a scaling down of security measures in the province, could mean people with evil intent, such as paedophiles, are more inclined to move about.

The warning comes on the day that schoolgirl Sarah Payne, the eight-year-old who was abducted and murdered in England, was buried.

Sergeant Cranch told the BBC that such a scenario was not impossible in Northern Ireland.

"I think people in Northern Ireland think that we're such a pious country that a tragic incident like the Sarah Payne case couldn't happen in Northern Ireland.

"I should remind them that it has happened in the past and there is the potential for it to happen in the future."

There was a similar case in August 1981, when a nine-year-old County Antrim girl was abducted as she cycled to a friend's house.

The body of Jennifer Cardy, from Ballinderry, was found six days later in a mill pond near Hillsborough, following a massive police hunt.

An inquest later found that she had been drowned.

No-one has ever been charged with the murder.

There have been other cases of brutal child murders in Northern Ireland.

Kieran Hegarty: Murdered

Kieran Hegarty from Strabane in County Tyrone, was battered to death five years ago. His body was buried in a shallow grave near his home.

Brian Doherty, 26, from the same town was convicted of the killing. He is currently in Carstairs State Hospital in Lanarkshire but now seeking to be put back into the mainstream prison population.

In 1995, the naked body of 13-year-old Darren Fawns from Antrim was found beside a golf course. He had also been murdered. No one has been brought to justice for that murder.

Sergeant Cranch said one of the consequences of the normalisation of society in the province was greater freedom of movement for people.

"We have to accept that if we're going back to a normal society, along with that will go what happens in England and Scotland the Republic of Ireland, where people do have freedom of movement.

"It's not just people who are out for innocent purposes who have that freedom of movement.

"It is essential that we educate our children in stranger awareness and in stranger danger.

"I would certainly call on parents, schools, all youth organisations and community groups in fact anybody who has any influence over children to keep drilling this into them until it's second nature".

A Stranger Danger programme which involves schools in Northern Ireland is already in place and involves the RUC, NSPCC, Kidscape and social services.

Sergeant Cranch added that children should be wary of women as well as male strangers.