Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Hope fades for missing girl as police find body

Jason Bennetto
Monday 04 March 1996 19:02 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

JASON BENNETTO

Crime Correspondent

The body of a girl - almost certainly that of Rosemary McCann, aged five, who went missing while sleeping in her bedroom - was found in a bag dumped in an alley yesterday.

The dead girl, who was wearing red pyjama bottoms similar to those worn by Rosemary, was left in a narrow passage behind terraced houses in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

Police found the body about 350 yards from where Rosemary was last seen seven weeks ago. The area had already been examined during a mass hunt for the girl, but a fresh search uncovered the body yesterday morning at Little Bank Street in the Roundhorn area, about a mile from Rosemary's home. Rosemary's mother, Josephine Mahon, 26, was said to be devastated last night.

The girl was last seen by her mother asleep in her bed at about midnight at their home in Kipling Road, Oldham, on 14 January. She disappeared from her bed, wearing only pyjamas, while her mother was at a neighbour's house. A babysitter was in the house, but when Ms Mahon returned at 2am the babysitter was asleep and Rosemary had gone.

A 31-year-old man, Andrew Pountley, of Kew Road, Oldham, has appeared in court charged with Rosemary's abduction. Detective Superintendent Ronald Gaffey, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "We have a man in custody and ... I will obviously be talking to him." Det Supt Gaffey admitted that the spot where the body was found had already been searched. "You must bear in mind we [searched] something like 40 square miles of Oldham originally," he said. "Today we made a more detailed search on the basis of our investigations so far and that led us here."

Home Office pathologist Dr Bill Lawlor was carrying out a post mortem examination; the body will be formally identified later. Det Supt Gaffey said it was impossible to say how long the body had lain in the passage, or what the cause of death was until after the post mortem.

Hope of finding Rosemary alive deteriorated after weeks of intensive searching failed to find the girl.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in