Left: Michael Doyle. Right: Hyundai Trajet, similar to the one driven by the Travellers.
Left: Michael Doyle. Right: Hyundai Trajet, similar to the one driven by the Travellers.
Name: Michael Doyle
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: July 13, 2004
Location Last Seen: Tullow, County Carlow, Ireland
Date of Birth: May 3, 2002
Age: 2 years old
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: 2'11" (90 cm)
Weight: 24 lbs (11kg)
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Nickname/Alias: Michael Lyons
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
Dentals: Unknown
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Unknown
Clothing: Unknown
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
Michael Doyle, who is also known as Michael Lyons, has been missing from the Tullow area since July 13th, and is believed to be with members of the Traveller community in Britain.
He is 2 feet 11 inches with blue eyes and brown hair.
The child's mother served a two-month prison sentence for refusing to hand her son over to the health board after a care order was issued by the courts earlier this year. The health board moved to have her son, Michael, taken into care. The court granted the order, but the child's mother did not comply with it. When the time came to have him taken into care, Michael had disappeared. His mother was brought back before the district court three times in as many months. In August that year, the court allowed the child to be identified as a missing person. A month later, Nora Lyons was remanded in custody for failing to provide the court with information.
Witnesses later told gardai that they noticed Nora Lyons standing with a group of Travellers in a lane way off Tullow's main street. Michael was in his buggy. A van with UK registration plates was parked beside the group. At the time, Nora Lyons appeared to be quite drunk. She was seen unstrapping the child from his buggy and handing him over to a man who handed him to two well-dressed Travellers. The child was put in the back of the van, and they drove off. His mother, Nora Lyons, later admitted that she gave the child to a Traveller couple. But she claimed she didn't know where the child was. She was jailed for two months later that year for failing to co-operate with the investigation.
Gardaí believe the child was handed to members of the Traveller community based in England. They were reportedly spotted in the Tullow area in August 2004 in a dark-coloured, British-registered van, similar to a Hyundai Trajet (see photo).
During one court appearance, Garda Joe Hanley told the court that he was well aware of the circumstances surrounding the handover of the child. He said on one occasion, he spoke on the phone to the person who had custody of Michael. He tried to call a second time, but the person hung up after answering. On subsequent attempts, the number appeared to be out of service, he said.
Bridget Scanlon, his older half-sister, believes that her little brother is somewhere in Wales. Soon after he disappeared, the family were sent a photograph of the little boy.
Agency Name: Tullow Garda Station
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: +353599151222
Agency E-Mail: Contact form
Agency Case Number: IRGSMK15
Garda
Irish Times
Independent.ie
Added: 3/18/22; Last Updated: 3/18/22 - By: ls
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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