Matthew McCallan, 15, died from hypothermia after going missing from Co Tyrone, in December 2022. His mother Frances is still seeking answers about the search response at an ongoing inquest
The mum of a teenage boy who was discovered dead in a ditch in Co Tyrone following a night out is still seeking answers three years later.
Matthew McCallan was a “kind, caring, and witty” fifteen year old who had been travelling to a jamboree in Fintona, near Omagh, with a group of mates in December 2022. His mum, Frances, said the youngster had only just begun to come out of his shell and was excited about a night out.
Tragically, he never returned home that bitterly cold night. After losing his mobile, it’s understood he boarded a pre-arranged bus home with friends, but got off at some stage. Following a two-day search involving local residents, PSNI, and the Community Rescue Service, Matthew’s body was discovered in a ditch just two miles from the country music festival he had been at.
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In a recent video posted on social media, Frances said if a voluntary search dog team had been deployed to the area the day after her son disappeared, he might still be alive today, reports Belfast Live.
Reflecting on that evening his went missing, his heartbroken mum remembers the moment she knew something had gone terribly wrong. She explained: “Molly and Thomas rang me at 1.15am. People are highly critical that they didn’t get off the bus, but they weren’t allowed to get off the bus.
“In doing so, they thought the right decision would be to go back down the road and look for Matthew after picking up Molly’s car from the bus drop-off point.
“They got off the bus, into the car, and back down to Fintona. Me and Matthew’s daddy were already on our way to Fintona just thinking it was a matter of going up and coming back down. We went back home as we thought he would’ve let himself in to the cabin at the back of the house, that he’d be in there toasty and warm.”
When they realised he wasn’t home they went back out searching for him, she said: “we looked everywhere. I remember shouting his name out the windows, and I had a really sick feeling. There are other members of the family who if they didn’t come home, you would’ve thought they probably went to a party. But everybody knew Matthew wasn’t like that.”
After alerting the police, Frances explained that officers conducted searches of her house and her sister’s home as standard procedure. The family and broader community then mobilised in large numbers to look for Matthew just hours after his disappearance.
Yet, despite the Community Rescue Service being deployed to assist with the search, Frances remains baffled as to why the PSNI failed to also call upon Search and Rescue Dog Association – Ireland North for support.
She explained: “At 9am on the Sunday, the dog rescue group put out they were available to search for Matthew, they obviously felt they could help. They said they had six scent dogs and police were aware they were on standby. But the police did not task them.
“What I want to know is why weren’t they tasked? Who felt they were better educated that they could call that shot? The police haven’t answered one question.
“I thought he would have been knocked down and was lying in a hedge. On the Sunday morning, everybody was shouting into the hedges – I just never thought he would be found dead in a ditch. I just never dreamt that would happen.”
A representative for SARDA-IN stated: “As all Voluntary NISAR assets are, SARDA IN dog teams are always available for searches 24/7 at the request of tasking authorities and in support of our NISAR colleagues. It is not uncommon for search dogs not to be deployed immediately in missing person searches.”
Two days after his disappearance, Matthew’s body was discovered on Monday morning. A post-mortem examination determined that he died from hypothermia. Reflecting on the moment she received the devastating news, Frances recalled: “I was in a community hall, crowds were gathering to search and people were making sandwiches and tea.
“Two police liaison officers arrived and brought me into a side room, they were asking questions and I was answering them as best I could. I remember an officer said ‘there’s been an update, a body has been found.’ But then she said, ‘but it might not be Matthew.'”
“So because of that I remember thinking to myself it wasn’t him. But then I thought there’s hardly loads of bodies lying around Fintona. I just think it was brutal for them to tell me that information without my family there, I love my friends but it wasn’t their place to be there, and they have since said that to me.
“Then Matthew’s daddy arrived in and he had been on site when they found Matthew, so they allowed him to identify his body. Those words ‘there’s been a body found, but it might not be him’ still absolutely haunt me, it was just said so casually.”
When describing her young son, Frances recalled: “As he was getting older, he had become witty, he had a really dry sense of humour. A girl contacted me to tell me her brother had died in a farming accident, and Matthew would make her send him a photograph of her empty plate to make sure she ate her food.
“Another wee fella contacted me and said he wouldn’t be here without him. Him and his girlfriend had broken up, and only for Matthew being there for him, he doesn’t know if he would still be here. That’s the type of person he was.
“I would say to him ‘I gave you £20 yesterday where did it go?’ and he would say ‘mummy such and such had no money, so I got them chips as well.’ To me, that’s a lovely quality, he was so kind, caring, he was good craic and he loved the craic as well.”
Frances, alongside her family, voiced serious doubts about how police initially handled the search for Matthew, prompting the PSNI to refer the matter to the Police Ombudsman. Last year, Frances was refused legal aid to have representation at her son’s inquest.
The Legal Services Agency rejected the application, stating it was “not in the wider public interest” because, based on current evidence, there was no indication of a “systemic failure on the part of the PSNI.” However, Frances argues that the PSNI’s failure to involve SARDA-IN in the searches indicates systemic shortcomings in her son’s case.
When asked for a comment, a representative from the Legal Services Agency stated: “The Agency does not comment on individual cases. However, any individual can make an application for legal aid or renew an application if their application was refused and there has been a change in circumstances. The Agency considers all applications on their merits on a case-by-case basis.”
Frances says: “We haven’t had a preliminary hearing for the inquest in over a year. The police haven’t answered one question to date. You feel so alone, it feels like there is nobody there to support me.”
She added: “Time goes on for everybody else and life moves on, but I’m stuck back in that time. When you lose a child, you lose everything. I lost everything, even caring for that child, cooking for that child, doing washing and ironing, school runs – I lost my whole identity, and it’s very hard to rebuild that.”
A PSNI spokesperson stated: “Our thoughts remain with Matthew’s devastated family however as there is an ongoing inquest, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
