A sick internet troll has again targeted the family of missing Amy Fitzpatrick – claiming they have the teen and demanded over €200,000 for her return.
The Dubliner was just 15 and living in Spain’s Costa del Sol when she was last seen on New Year’s Day 2008. Tragically, her older brother Dean was stabbed to death five years later by Dave Mahon, the partner of Amy’s mother Audrey.
One online parasite, who claims to live in New Zealand, has sent the family a Facebook message stating: “Hi, I have her. It’s easy, 500,000$NZD and you get her back.”
Read more: Amy Fitzpatrick case breakthrough hope after authorities given new information
Amy’s aunt Christine Kenny, who has campaigned to help find her niece, has said these sick trolls “have no consideration for families”. She added: “We’ve had trolls target us over the years and they stopped but now this latest one is upsetting for us all.
“It’s horrendous and obviously whoever is behind this one doesn’t have very much intelligence. It’s wrong.”
Christine said when they first started to receive messages from trolls shortly after Amy went missing it was “very tough as it gave us false hope”. She recalled: “We had to follow every lead and realised then most of these were trolls claiming they have Amy.”
The Fitzpatricks have long believed Amy is dead and the focus of their campaign is to find her body and bring her home for burial. Christine added: “And at the end of the day all we want to do is find Amy, bring her home and bury her in a grave beside her brother Dean.”
Last month, the Government made contact with Spanish police over the case. Christine, her husband Billy and daughter, met Tanaiste and Foreign Minister Micheal Martin at Leinster House where he told her of the latest development.
She had prepared a number of documents for Mr Martin as she talked him through the case, with the Fianna Fail leader examining the papers for himself. After the meeting she told the Irish Mirror: “We talked him through the whole case and I handed him a lot of information. Believe it or not, he looked through some of the documents himself. He was very sincere.
Read more: Spanish police haven't ruled out digging up site where family believe Amy Fitzpatrick is buried
“And it’s the first time that I’ve actually gone to a meeting that was completely different from what we’ve had before. You could see his compassion. They’ve been in touch with the Guardia Civil. He said he’ll do whatever he can and I know he was sincere. I know that from the way he was speaking to me.”
But Christine has now revealed that so far “nothing has come of that meeting”. She said: “Twice they called me saying they have no updates but I haven’t heard anything since. All we want is the Spanish Police, the Guardia de Civil, to open a cold case and start a new investigation.
“From the very beginning Spanish police never did what they should have done.” Christine has also revealed the stables where the Fitzpatricks had been tipped off that Amy was buried still haven’t been searched.
The source claimed she had been buried at the old Fuengirola race track about 10 minutes away from where Amy lived with her mother Audrey and Mahon. Christine said: “The Spanish authorities still haven’t searched the stables which makes me feel they aren’t taking it very seriously.”
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