Gardai fear suspect Anthony Maguire has taken the key to Kyran Durnin's mystery disappearance to his grave

The suspect in the disappearance and murder of little Kyran Durnin took his secrets to the grave, it has emerged.

Sources have confirmed that Anthony Maguire, who took his own life in Drogheda, Co Louth on Tuesday, left a note at the scene – but it made no reference to the missing boy.

Officers probing the mystery disappearance of Kyran, who was last seen two years ago when he was six, had been hoping Maguire might have left some titbit of information on the case. But the Irish Mirror has established Maguire, a convicted criminal, only referenced other personal issues unconnected with the case.

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“The hope was he would have left something about the boy, but the note made no reference to the case,” a source confirmed to the Irish Mirror.

Officers believe Maguire, who was found dead at his home in Beechwood in Drogheda, was central to the alleged cover up of Kyran’s death. Gardaí suspect Maguire, 36, played a direct role in previously duping authorities into believing that missing Kyran was in fact alive.

Sources say Maguire was suspected of having facilitated in having a ‘decoy’ child brought before authorities in Tusla, the Child and Family Agency earlier this year - in an attempt to fool them into believing he was Kyran. However, the attempt raised eyebrows with authorities, who eventually communicated concerns to Gardaí.

Little Kyran Durnin, who was last seen in May 2022 at the age of six
(Image: Irish Mirror)

Gardaí believe Kyran was by this stage dead - and that he may have been murdered up to two years ago, when he was six years old. It is understood that Maguire was known to Kyran but he had insisted to neighbours and friends that he had nothing to do with his disappearance.

The Tulsa concerns then led to a massive Garda investigation – which resulted in the Kyran missing person’s case being upgraded to murder in October. He was reported missing at the end of August and Gardaí spent weeks searching for any trace of him before upgrading the case to murder on October 16.

A digger being loaded into the back garden where searches were carried out in Drogheda Co Louth in connection with the suspected murder of Kyran Durnin

A grandmother of Kyran Durnin was reportedly recorded on tape saying she last saw the youngster alive on Wednesday, August 28. Rhonda Tyson said he stayed in her house in Drogheda, Co Louth, with his mother and her daughter Dayla and had been sleeping on the couch.

But the next morning when she woke up, both mother and child were gone. Dayla left a note for her on the table saying she needed to get away for a few days. Her account of seeing Kyran recently alive is totally at odds with the view of Gardaí that he has been dead for the last two years.

The recorded interview was obtained by the investigative BBC Spotlight team for their programme on the case, The Lost Boy, which was screened last Tuesday. Despite the death of Maguire, sources say the Garda investigation is continuing. Officers are not only trying to solve the young boy’s suspected murder – but are also determined to recover his remains.

“There is a focus on getting his body back so he can be given a Christian burial,” a source told us.

Detectives in Drogheda are still working 24/7 on the case – trying to uncover vital evidence about what happened to the boy and where he is. But sources conceded that the death of Maguire made an already complex case even more complicated.

“It is the last thing the team needed,” a source said. “But the investigation will not be derailed by it.”

Maguire was arrested last Thursday on suspicion of murder, before being released without charge the following day. Gardaí also carried out what they termed an intrusive search at his home in Beechwood, including deploying a cadaver dog, but no trace of Kyran was found.

Kyran Durnin
(Image: Irish Mirror)

The Irish Mirror photographed Maguire smoking outside Drogheda Garda Station after he was just released from custody last Friday. It is understood he stayed quiet during questioning and gave Gardaí no clues as to what happened to little Kyran.

His arrest came just 24 hours after a woman known to Kyran had also been arrested and released without charge. The woman, who has denied any involvement in Kyran’s disappearance, had previously implicated Maguire. Officers are now set to probe his final movements and dealings before he took his own life on Thursday.

His violent past is also of concern to officers - and we revealed on Tuesday that he received a one-and-a-half-year suspended sentence back in 2020 for the violent assault of a woman in July 2017. Maguire pleaded guilty in that case and was spared jail - and ultimately moved from an address in the Rosevale estate to the Beechwood estate in Drogheda. He was also previously in court for punching a teenage girl at Buttergate on April 18, 2009.

In her evidence, she alleged Maguire punched her in the face, stated she had been with friends when a girl pulled her to the ground by her hair - and as she got up, Maguire punched her.

At the age of 22, he was before the courts over criminal damage at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, where he became agitated and smashed a window after having a row with his girlfriend.

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