Pender Search Resumes

Gardaí have resumed their search for the missing Offaly woman, Fiona Pender.

The 25 year-old part-time model and hairdresser has been missing since 1996; she was eight months pregnant at the time of her disappearance.

Hope for finding her remains was rekindled in May, after walkers in a picnic area near Mountrath, Co Laois encountered a rickety cross in the woods with the epitaph "Fiona Pender RIP".

However, after thorough searches in the area, gardaí failed to turn up any evidence of her remains.

But now gardaí have again sealed off the wooded area in the Slieve Bloom mountains on Monday morning as the search for her body resumes.

Reports suggest an expert who has been used in several high-profile searches across the world carried out a week-long examination at Monicknew and his report has led gardaí to recommence a search, which could run to several acres and take more than one week.

Ms Pender went missing from the flat she lived in on Church Street in Tullamore on 22 August 1996. She 25 years old and eight months' pregnant.

It is understood that members of the defence forces in this latest search will assist garda technical experts.

(DW)