Family of missing Amy Fitzpatrick call on Spanish police to launch murder probe
The heartbroken family of missing Irish teen Amy Fitzpatrick have launched a new online campaign demanding a review of her case.
The emotional video features various pictures of the youngster growing up and wants her disappearance to be upgraded to a murder investigation.
Amy, 15, vanished as she walked home from her friend Ashley Rose's house on the Costa del Sol on the night of New Year's Day 2008.
She is listed by the Spanish police as a missing person but no serious effort to try and find her has been made since the first week after she disappeared.
Since then the family have received various new leads and information in relation to the case but it has not been acted upon by the Spanish authorities.
They have watched silently as every effort was made by police forces across Europe to try and find missing Madeleine McCann and yet nothing has been done to find Amy.
Her aunt Christine Kenny said: 'Amy is Ireland's Madeleine McCann, she was only a child when she went missing but yet she has been ignored and forgotten about.
'We have not heard from the Spanish police in years – there is no contact, no liaison with us.
'All we are asking for is for a review of Amy's case and for it to be upgraded from a missing person's case to a murder inquiry.
'That way the Spanish police might take it seriously and put all the resources required to try and find out what happened to her.
'We have no doubt that at this stage Amy is more than likely dead but all her dad Christopher wants to do is to find her and bring her home and bury her with her brother.'
Amy lived near Calahonda with her mother Audrey, brother Dean and her mum's boyfriend Dave Mahon.
But Dean lost his life after being stabbed to death by Mahon after a row in a Dublin apartment in 2013.
Mahon served five years for manslaughter and he and Audrey are still together living in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim.
Amy used to ring her dad Chris most days when she lived in Spain and was due to move back to Ireland to live with him when she disappeared.
Christine added: 'It is nearly 17 years since she went missing and we have received little or no answers. All her father wants is closure and to bring Amy home. There are people out there who know the truth about what happened and are covering it up for whatever reason.
'We have spoken to various members of the Irish Government about Amy over the years but they have done little or nothing to help us.
'We repeatedly ask them for their help but nothing ever happens. They know Amy was a child, an Irish citizen, but yet they do nothing. It is very frustrating and so wrong.'
No one has ever been arrested over her disappearance or suspects quizzed.
Relatives have been given information her body could be buried beneath a stable in the disused Fuengirola racetrack but the Spanish police have never acted on it and searched the area.
The family have always felt if Amy was from south county Dublin and not the northside, the Irish Government would leave no stone unturned to find her.
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