The boyfriend of a pregnant Tullamore woman who has been missing since August of last year has criticised gardai for arresting him and members of his family in connection with her disappearance. Mr John Thompson, of Grange, Killeagh, Co Laois, also said gardai have not taken sufficient action and did not act quickly enough in their search for the missing woman, Ms Fiona Pender, whose 26th birthday was last month.
Gardai have rejected the criticisms. Insp John Dunleavy said he did not wish to comment on the specific details of their investigation or points raised by Mr Thompson, but added: "We have interviewed people in the past and we won't be deterred from interviewing or arresting people in the future."
He said gardai had conducted "countless" searches for the missing woman and were still doing so. Every suspect site which had been feasible to search had been searched. There was a very good search team in the Laois-Offaly divisional area, he said.
The Garda search has involved sub-aqua teams, Air Corps helicopters, Civil Defence personnel and tracker dogs.
Mr Thompson (24) said he did not want to be seen "to be giving the guards the fingers . . . but the fact remains that she is still missing.
"They will tell you that they searched high and low, but they did two searches on this farm and there is a well outside the door and it was never searched." He said a slurry tank on the farm was also never searched.
"At the end of the day Fiona is out there somewhere and it is their job to find her. I just want to highlight the fact that she is still missing."
Mr Thompson said he had been going out with Ms Pender for three years and they had been living together for a year. Their child was due 10 months ago.
In April, Mr Thompson, his three sisters and his father were arrested and held for 12 hours for questioning in relation to the disappearance. The gardai had no evidence against him and his family, Mr Thompson said, and he took "a dim view" of the arrests.
"It is just not good enough for them to suggest that we disposed of her and then leave it at that."
Mr Thompson said he last saw Fiona in their flat in Church Street on August 23rd, 1996, when he left for work at 6 a.m. He feels she could not have disappeared from a busy town without being seen by someone.
"I feel that someone might have seen something, but is afraid." Mr Thompson said he was appealing for anyone who could help to come forward.
He said rumours that his family, which is Church of Ireland, were against his relationship with Ms Pender, because she was a Catholic, were "not even worthy of comment. But I deny it."
Most people he dealt with every day were Catholics, he said. "We are not bigots and nor are the Pender family."
Mr Thompson said he was "hopeful" that Ms Pender and the child were alive.
In a lengthy interview with the Offaly Express, Mr Thompson's father, Archie, said: "All I wanted was that John would find a girl he was happy with and I couldn't care less whether she was a Protestant or a Roman Catholic or no religion. I couldn't care less whether she was black or white."
