THE social services in Northern Ireland were yesterday dealing with their second so-called "home alone" case this week following the discovery of a 14- year-old boy living alone in a Derry housing estate.
The boy was taken into care yesterday, a day after the fire brigade was called to his home in the Ballymagroarty estate. A fire had badly damaged the livingroom of the home at Joyce Court, where it is believed the boy had been living alone since last week.
An RUC spokesman said a person had been questioned in connection with the fire and that he had been released pending a police report into the incident. The Foyle Social Services Trust in Derry confirmed that the boy had been taken into care.
"Because of the confidential nature of the case, we cannot disclose where the boy is now being cared for," a spokesperson said.
A Housing Executive spokesman said they received several calls about the case and were still trying to contact the tenant.
Yesterday's case follows a highly-publicised case earlier this week in Belfast, where four children aged from 10 months to four years were taken into care after neighbours reported that they were living unsupervised in their home in the Ardoyne area.