Philip Cairns Part 1

Unsolved

This episode introduces the 1986 disappearance of 13-year-old Philip Cairns in Rathfarnham, Dublin. It details his final known movements fro

Key takeaways

• Philip Cairns vanished on Thursday, October 23, 1986, while walking to school.
• The disappearance occurred in the quiet suburban area of Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.

Main topics

• Philip Cairns disappearance
• 1980s Dublin life

Notable quotes

He vanished into thin air.

Conclusion

The episode sets the stage for a deep dive into one of Ireland's most

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) In October of 1986, on an ordinary autumn Thursday, 13-year-old Philip Cairns disappeared. He had just finished lunch at his house in Rathfairnham, Dublin 16, and was walking back to school for his afternoon classes down quiet suburban lanes when he vanished into thin air. Speaker 1 (0:19) To this day, Philip is one of the most well-known missing persons cases in Ireland. There's been intensive investigations by Gardaí, huge speculation and endless heartbreaking dead ends met. Speaker 2 (0:33) Despite almost 40 years of nationwide searches and appeals, no one has ever been arrested and Philip has never been found. The disappearance of Philip Cairns remains unsolved. Speaker 1 (0:59) I'm crime journalist Barry Cummins. And Speaker 2 (1:01) I'm RTE presenter Katia Mía, and this is Unsolved, an RTE true crime podcast series. Speaker 1 (1:07) Each week we'll be taking an in-depth look at real Irish cases, seeking justice for the victims of Ireland's unsolved crimes. Speaker 2 (1:17) Barry, today we're taking an in-depth look at the disappearance of 13-year-old Philip Cairns, who disappeared on the afternoon of the 23rd of October 1986. This disappearance is etched in the memory of a lot of Irish households, especially those who grew up around the 80s. I know you were only born a year after, a year before Philip Cairns. A Speaker 1 (1:41) year Speaker 2 (1:41) after. You Speaker 1 (1:41) were Speaker 2 (1:41) born Speaker 1 (1:41) a Speaker 2 (1:41) year after. I'd Speaker 1 (1:42) be Speaker 2 (1:42) a Speaker 1 (1:42) year younger than Philip. Yeah, so I'd have those memories of 1986 and just knowing that something had happened to a child. And I remember the concern of, I was in sixth class in primary school, but the concern of... parents bringing their children to school in the later part of that year all as a result of the news that a boy had disappeared while walking to school. Speaker 2 (2:08) Yeah, and we are going to get into it. But before, let's establish Philip Cairns. Let's talk about him. He was born on the 1st of September in 1973 and was the second youngest in a family of six siblings. So he's the eldest boy. There were two boys. He had four older sisters, Mary, Sandra, Helen and Suzanne, all aged 20 down to 15 by the time Philip disappeared. And his younger brother, Owen, who was also like his best friend, friend who was just 12 at the time of Philip's disappearance. And he was Speaker 1 (2:39) really close to Owen so he was the big brother but he was also the younger brother to his four sisters as well so he was well looked after by his four older sisters and then he in turn was really close in age to Owen. Speaker 2 (2:51) but Speaker 1 (2:52) the older brother and so himself and Owen were really close. Speaker 2 (2:55) They got on well and the family is described as a close-knit family. His father, Philip Senior, who he was named after was from Dublin, the Cabra area specifically and his mother was named Alice and she was originally from Kilkenny. A strong, hurling... Oh, Speaker 1 (3:12) yeah. And I know Philip himself. I've seen a lovely photograph of him. He had a Dublin GAA jersey that he'd wear. But the loyalties would be split as well in terms of Dublin and Kilkenny. There was a love for both counties. Speaker 2 (3:26) Of course. Yeah. The two parents, Alison Philip Senior, met at a wedding. in Dublin and they got married in 1963 at the Church of Christ the King in Cabra on Dublin's north side and were living at St. Columbus Road in Drumcondra by the time Philip was born. Now, Philip Senior had a good job. He was a purchasing manager for Norden Foods, later acquired by Nestle. Alice was a stay-at-home mum of six kids and by the time Philip was four years old, the family moved to the south side. They moved to the address 38 Ballyroane Road in Dublin 16, the Rathfairnham area, which you'll hear us say. lot but this area is you know known as a quiet suburban area in dublin it is a nice neighborhood and during that time philip in his young years he was very active involved in the community involved in sports he played for the local hurling team he was a member of the fishing club with his father that's something they both love to do together Speaker 1 (4:20) he also won a few awards for fishing And there's different awards I think you can get for the first catch of the day or the biggest fish that you'd catch, those kind of things. So he, Philip, loved fishing, loved hurling, loved playing football with his brother as well, just in the back garden. So big into sports. He would be described as quiet enough in school and in primary school in that he wasn't the first, and many of us might be like this, wasn't the first to put his hand up to answer something that he might actually know the answer to, but still a little shy about. about putting his hand up. So quiet in one way in school, but you can tell through the activities. He was big into sports. He was involved. He was involved and very present in a lot of lives of many Speaker 2 (5:07) people. So he sounds like he really was a good kid and he was close-knit with his family. And I suppose that's one of the hardest things when we talk about these cases, Barry, is when we... think about the potential of these victims and their futures. We know Philip also loved music. His school bag had UB40, the British reggae band. He had that written out on his school bag and marker and his pencil case had the Beatles on it. So he had great taste. He did. I've seen Speaker 1 (5:35) both the bag and the pencil case in reporting and the stenciling. Many of us will remember those pencil cases that you'd spend time probably in school. Using one of your bit of your math set to scrape out the