Philip Cairns

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

An Garda S Och Na Irish Police Rathfarnham Garda (STATION)

Missing From:

Rathfarnham, Dublin, Ireland

Summary:

Philip Cairns (born 1 September 1973) is an Irish child who disappeared while walking back to school in South Dublin from his home in Ballyroan on 23 October 1986. A large-scale investigation was carried out, but no trace of Cairns has ever been found. His disappearance is now treated as a high-profile child murder case.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

Philip had left his new school, Coláiste Éanna, at 12.50pm and walked the short distance to his home at Ballyroan road, Rathfarnham. The walk home usually took him less than 15 minutes. Philip arrived home at one o'clock. His grandmother had his lunch waiting for him. After lunch he had a few minutes to spare before heading back to school - so he did his homework and swapped his books for his afternoon classes. At 1.30, he gathered up his schoolbag and left his house to return to school. That was the last his Gran, his Mother and Father, his brother and sisters ever saw of Philip. When he didn't come home from school later that day, his mother went to some of his friends' houses but nobody had seen him. The family hoped he was simply running late but, as the hours passed, reality set in. Gardaí soon launched a missing people appeal and a wide-scale search. Six days after Philip's disappearance, his schoolbag was found in a laneway near Coláiste Éanna. Some of Philip's books were missing from the bag. The laneway in question links Anne Devlin Road and Anne Devlin Drive in Rathfarnham.

Additional Details:

An Garda Síochána has been actively investigating the disappearance of Philip Cairns since 1986. As part of the on-going investigation into the case of missing person Philip Cairns in 1986, a 25 year anniversary appeal was circulated in 2011. An Garda Síochána has been actively investigating the disappearance of Philip Cairns since 1986. As part of the on-going investigation into the case of missing person Philip Cairns in 1986, a 25 year anniversary appeal was circulated in 2011. As a result of this appeal several members of the public came forward and have been liaising with the investigating team on an on-going basis. In May of this year a statement was made by one of those who came forward to the investigating Gardaí at Rathfarnham Garda Station. Aspects of this statement have been corroborated and resulted in the opening of new lines of inquiry. The Garda suspicions are focused on the late Eamon Cooke, a former pirate radio broadcaster who was jailed in 2007 for 10 years for multiple indecent assaults of two young girls. Gardaí said today that the investigation into missing person Philip Cairns – who disappeared from Rathfarnham on 23 October 1986 – is "very much active" and that they were pursuing 160 new lines of inquiry. RTÉ reports that gardaí believe that a number of children may have been coerced into placing Philip's bag in the laneway at the time. Notorious paedophile Eamon Cooke has not been ruled out as a suspect in the disappearance of Philip Cairns despite his DNA not being found on Philip's schoolbag which was found near the boy's home. DNA samples were analysed by Forensic Science Ireland but no match has been found with Cooke who died in a hospice in June while serving a ten-year sentence for sex abuse offences against young girls. Despite a lengthy Garda investigation trying to track down his whereabouts, he has never been found. Nobody has ever been arrested in relation to the case and numerous media appeals have been made. His mother Alice, of Ballyroan in Dublin, and formerly of Castlecomer in Kilkenny, died "suddenly but peacefully" on Tuesday. She was predeceased by her husband Philip and was the "cherished mother" of Mary, Sandra, Helen, Suzanne, Philip and Eoin. The mother of six was predeceased by her husband Philip in 2014. The Boy Who Never Came Home: Philip Cairns by Emma McMenamy. 'Provides new insights into an unsolved mystery that has loomed over Ireland for 35 years' – Paul Williams. The Boy Who Never Came Home will give the inside story on the investigation from the detectives who worked on the case as well as their theories on what they believe may have happened to the missing teenager. The book scrutinises in-depth the only named suspect, prolific paedophile Eamon Cooke, who was dubbed Ireland's Jimmy Savile.

Case Last Updated:

Jul 26, 2026