Recently I published the appeals of Eamon Cooke [5] [6] [7] and to accompany them an article from the Sunday Times on 2016 Jun 19 Sunday Times Did this DJ really kill Philip Cairns? [1]
In the interests of searching for the truth and also noting that the Sunday Times appears to have an agenda on child sexual abuse, I now publish this article by Conor Lally which can be found in the Irish Times 2016 Aug 13 Philip Cairns: ‘A ring of people have protected this case’ [2]
It is largely about information that Gareth O’Callaghan, a respected investigative journalist, has found out about the Philip Cairns case. He has evidence to suggest Philip Cairn’s death was to do with influential men in South Dublin child abuse ring.
Gareth has the address of a garden where he believes the body could be. At present the Gardai are taking no action with respect to this garden. He has a facebook page Gareth O’Callaghan [3] “Why don’t they just go and dig the garden?” asks O’Callaghan
Irish Times Philip Cairns: ‘A ring of people have protected this case’
Gareth O’Callaghan does not believe Eamon Cooke played part in boy’s disappearance
by Conor Lally
Photograph of Philip Cairns from when he went missing in 1986.
Having made his name in broadcasting and become one of RTÉ’s marquee names, Gareth O’Callaghan has been commended for his bravery in recent years when speaking out about his depression.
Of late, however, he has taken on something of a new public persona, agitating for justice for a boy who has been missing, presumed murdered, for 30 years: Philip Cairns.
The 13-year-old was a distant relative of O’Callaghan, not that the veteran broadcaster knew of the link.
“I found out our family was related to the Cairns family around 10 years ago,” O’Callaghan says. “We shared the same great grandad; that was obviously a long time ago. But that was never my main reason for getting involved in the case.
“My interest in this started 30 years ago when I heard that a young boy had gone missing. This was a phenomenally big case in 1986.”
As a broadcaster and author, O’Callaghan speaking out about Philip’s disappearance is, on the face of it, a little unusual, even if the boy was a relation.
But O’Callaghan, who is a psychotherapist and has a strong sense of social justice, has spoken out before on issues that were of concern to him and that he felt required airing.
His comments about what he said was the late Gerry Ryan’s long-term cocaine use won him few plaudits, but he felt the issue needed to be faced.
Having become concerned that paedophile Eamon Cooke, the former owner of pirate station Radio Dublin, was being identified as Philip’s abuser and killer, O’Callaghan decided to put his head above the parapet.
Using his profile and Facebook following of 21,000, he has written a number of posts outlining his concern that a paedophile ring – with well connected men among it – was linked to Philip’s disappearance.
Compulsion
O’Callaghan says he has been contacted by a large number of people, from Philip’s old school mates to people who say they were sexually abused by men operating in a paedophile ring in south Dublin in the 1970s, 1980s and beyond.
While he was moved by Philip’s disappearance in 1986 and became even more interested when he learned they were part of the same family network, O’Callaghan says his interest became a compulsion to speak out in recent months.
“When I realised they were pointing the finger at Eamon Cooke; he was a dead paedophile,” he says. “I said to myself, ‘hang on now, it’s too easy to pin the blame on him and just leave it to die’.” He says he appreciates the Garda believes the information alleging Cooke was behind Philip’s disappearance was worth close examination.
“But if they are going to pin their hopes on this guy, I think they’re letting a lot of guys go free. This has nothing to do with Eamon Cooke. I was beginning to get information from people who knew I had worked for Radio Dublin with Eamon Cooke who were saying, ‘it’s not him’, including one of his family. His daughter had come to me and said, ‘it’s not my father, you do know that?’.
“I worked in 1979 for Radio Dublin for almost nine months. I moved on to another pirate radio station after that. I wasn’t aware that he was abusing children; I was about 18 or 19 at the time and all I wanted to do was be on the radio.”
Asked what he recalled of Cooke, he says: “A strange, shifty, dirty guy; creepy, always had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He never washed. He looked despicable; you almost felt sad for the guy. He had a bit of a violent temper, but he just kept to himself and I kept to myself.”
He does not believe the narrative that has taken hold in the media of late: that Cooke lured Philip back to the Radio Dublin studio in Inchicore, Dublin to show him around and once there fatally injured him and disposed of the body, probably in the Dublin Mountains.
Philip was last seen leaving his home in Rathfarnham at about 1.30pm, on Thursday, October 23rd, 1986, as he began his journey on foot back to Coláiste Éanna after lunch.
The mystery of what became of the 13-year-old shot back into the headlines in June when it emerged gardaí were being aided by a witness who said she was present when Philip was in the Radio Dublin studio.
She said she saw him lying injured on the floor. She then passed out. When she woke up, she was in a car with Cooke. Philip was not there.
The witness, herself an abuse victim and who was just a child when Philip vanished, came forward and gave a statement to gardaí earlier this year.
However, by that time Cooke was out of prison – he was serving a sentence for historical child sex abuse – and was in a hospice in Raheny, north Dublin, dying of cancer.
When some of the allegations were put to him, he is said to have made a confession of sorts, though the import of any words he may have uttered has not been revealed.
Garda inquiry
The witness also gave information about Philip’s schoolbag, which was found in a laneway near his home six days after he disappeared. She detailed how Cooke directed others to leave the bag there to confuse the Garda inquiry. The bag was tested for Cooke’s DNA and no link found.
That, of course, does not mean that he wasn’t involved. But O’Callaghan doesn’t believe it was him anyway.
“Quite a few indications seem to me that it’s got nothing to do with Eamon Cooke; let’s rule that out of the equation. There’s no body as far as I am concerned buried in a field up the Dublin Mountains.”
He has no confidence in the reported partial deathbed admissions by Cooke of being involved in the disappearance.
His information, from people who knew Cooke, was that he had Alzheimer’s and was medicated and close to death when gardaí spoke to him.
O’Callaghan dismisses as “nonsense” the suggestion a person in that condition could contribute credibly to a historic Garda investigation.
While the allegation Cooke had killed Philip was now in the public domain, O’Callaghan says it is impossible to see where that line of inquiry would, or indeed could, lead.
O’Callaghan has said one member of the public who contacted him believes a man he worked for for many years was linked to Philip’s murder and has nominated the garden at that man’s home in south Dublin as Philip’s burial place.
The former 2FM broadcaster, who now plies his trade with 4FM, told The Irish Times another man contacted him nominating the same suspect – who is now deceased – as the possible killer of another long-term missing person.
People have also contacted O’Callaghan with the names of men who abused them as part of a paedophile ring.
Influential
The deceased man, whose garden O’Callaghan believes may contain Philip’s remains, has been named as a member of a Dublin paedophile ring by several people who have contacted the broadcaster and writer.
“This is a ring of individuals who have protected this case,” says O’Callaghan, saying that, while the surviving members of the alleged ring are now into their 70s and 80s, they were still influential.
O’Callaghan has passed that information to the Garda, as well as the information about the garden in south Dublin he believes “should be searched” if only to rule it out.
Garda sources said they were aware of the information, saying it was being examined along with other lines of inquiry and the excavation of any land would take place if there were grounds for such a dig.
O’Callaghan says some of the people who contacted him went to the Garda, some about Philip, others about the abuse they had suffered and had a bad experience.
“The individuals who have come forward to me confidentially have said they were treated like third-rate citizens,” he says.
“Some of them were sexually abused, some of them were raped. They were told the information they were coming forward with was not accurate, that it was not a good idea to be saying what they were saying.”
He says the Garda has told him they will examine all the information he has passed on.
“Why don’t they just go and dig the garden?” asks O’Callaghan. “This is information that is not being given the respect it deserves.”
–
Other articles relevant to child sexual abuse see [constantly updated] Index Timeline of Newspaper Articles on Cathy Fox Blog [4]
Please note that victims of abuse may be triggered by reading this information. These links are generally UK based.
- The Sanctuary for the Abused [A] has advice on how to prevent triggers.
- National Association for People Abused in Childhood [B] has a freephone helpline and has links to local support groups.
- Other useful sites are One in Four [C]
- and Havoca [D].
- Useful post on Triggers [E] from SurvivorsJustice [F] blog.
- Jim Hoppers pages on Mindfulness [G] and Meditation [H] may be useful.
- Hwaairfan blog An Indigenous Australian Approach to Healing Trauma [J]
- Survivors UK for victims and survivors of male rape or the sexual abuse of men [K]
- Voicing CSA group [L] helps arrange survivors meetings in your area
Links
[1] 2016 Jun 19 Sunday Times Did this DJ really kill Philip Cairns? http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/did-this-dj-really-kill-philip-cairns-wfgdblp6p
[2] 2016 Aug 13 Philip Cairns: ‘A ring of people have protected this case’ http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/philip-cairns-a-ring-of-people-have-protected-this-case-1.2754635#.V7OXHL1ZjEU.twitter
[3] Facebook page Gareth O’Callaghan https://www.facebook.com/gareth.ocallaghan.1/?hc_ref=SEARCH&fref=nf
[4] 2016 Cathy Fox Blog Index Timeline of Newspaper Articles on Cathy Fox Blog
[5] 2016 Jun 19 Cathy Fox Blog Eamon Cooke Appeal 1 2003 https://cathyfox.wordpress.com/2016/06/19/eamon-cooke-appeal-1-2003/
[6] 2016 Jun 19 Cathy Fox Blog Eamon Cooke Appeal 3 2015 https://cathyfox.wordpress.com/2016/06/19/eamon-cooke-appeal-2-2007/
[7] 2016 Jun 19 Cathy Fox Blog Eamon Cooke Appeal 2 2009 May 11 https://cathyfox.wordpress.com/2016/06/19/eamon-cooke-app
[A] Sanctuary for the Abused http://abusesanctuary.blogspot.co.uk/2006/07/for-survivors-coping-with-triggers-if.html
[B] NAPAC http://www.napac.org.uk/
[C] One in Four http://www.oneinfour.org.uk/
[D] Havoca http://www.havoca.org/HAVOCA_home.htm
[E] SurvivorsJustice Triggers post http://survivorsjustice.com/2014/02/26/triggers-what-are-they-and-how-do-we-work-through-them/
[F] SurvivorsJustice Blog http://survivorsjustice.com/
[G] Jim Hopper Mindfulness http://www.jimhopper.com/mindfulness/
[H] Jim Hopper Meditation http://www.jimhopper.com/mindfulness/#cultivate
[J] 2016 Jan 5 Hwaairfan blog An Indigenous Australian Approach to Healing Trauma https://hwaairfan.wordpress.com/2016/01/05/an-indigenous-australian-approach-to-healing-trauma/
[K] Survivors UK website for victims and survivors of male rape or the sexual abuse of men https://www.survivorsuk.org/ and twitter https://twitter.com/SurvivorsUK
[L] Voicing CSA website – http://voicingcsa.uk/ helps arrange survivors meetings in your area. Voicing CSA supports the IICSA and VSCP and works to help adult survivors of child sexual abuse find their voice
This is all written in good faith but if there is anything that needs to be corrected please email ecooke
cathyfox
the truth will out, the truth will shout, the truth will set us free
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing” – Edmund Burke
“He who does not bellow the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers.” Charles Peguy
To sin by silence when we should protest makes cowards out of men – Ella Wheeler Wilcox
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/philip-cairns-a-ring-of-people-have-protected-this-case-1.2754635#.V7OXHL1ZjEU.twitter
https://cathyfox.wordpress.com/2016/06/20/philip-cairns-murdered-by-eamon-cook-sunday-times-article-19-jun-2016/
Original Article: https://cathyfox.wordpress.com/2016/08/17/irish-times-philip-cairns-a-ring-of-people-have-protected-this-case-13-aug-2016/
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