New true crime documentary ‘The murder of Arlene Arkinson’ to air on TG4 this week

Marú inár Measc S3 – Dúnmharú Arlene Arkinson (The Murder of Arlene Arkinson) will be screened at 9.30pm on Wednesday March 29.

Episode 2 of the series recalls the disappearance and murder of 15-year-old Castlederg child.

Arlene Arkinson was last seen on August 14, 1994 as she left her home in Castlederg, Co. Tyrone to attend a disco in Bundoran.

Her body has never been found. Nearly 30 years later in 2021 it was be ruled at inquest that she was abducted and murdered by serial killer Robert Lesarian Howard.

Arlene’s family are seeking a public inquiry into RUC investigation into Arlene's disappearance – a move backed by Derry City & Strabane District Council later in 2021.

The programme makers said: “In what was one of the worst years of, in terms of fatalities, of the Troubles, 1994 was also the first step in a long road to peace in the North of Ireland. That year the IRA declared their first ceasefire, but in the border town of Castlederg, Co. Tyrone, there was a wolf in sheep’s clothing amongst the flock. Robert Howard, nicknamed the Wolf Man of Wolfhill, was known to the authorities across three jurisdictions with a history of a litany of sexual offences and crimes on the islands of Ireland and Britain. Little did the people of Castlederg know that this was the same man who had befriended a group of teenagers in their small market town.”

“I just wished that I could’ve changed that night,” Kathleen, Arlene’s sister tells the film-makers as she recalls the last time that she saw her little sister.

Arlene left Kathleen’s house the night of August 13 after babysitting for her while Kathleen went to the local bingo. Arlene had been invited by another local teenager to a disco over the border in Bundoran, Co. Donegal. She left that night in a car with her friend and her boyfriend, and Robert Howard who drove the car. This would be the last time that Arlene would be seen by her family and nearly 30 years later they still search for her. Hoping one day to bury her remains along with their parents.

This documentary features interviews with the Arkinson family solicitor Des Doherty, who alongside the family saw justice prevail in 2021 after a 15 year legal battle, and Kathleen Arkinson, who has never given up hope. Award-winning journalist Póilín Ní Chiaráin, Gearóid Ó Muilleoir and former head of the Cold Case unit Detective Alan Bailey also feature.

MARÚ INÁR MEASC is a four-part documentary series by Midas Productions for TG4, which shines a light on the effect that fatal crimes have on society, local communities and on the victim’s families as they are left without answers.

The programme makers said the series could not have been made ‘without the co-operation of each family and loved ones who shared their story and allowed us the privilege of filming with them’.