By 
THE MOTHER of a teenager found dead after a night out in Fintona just over three years ago has questioned why police didn’t deploy rescue dogs as part of efforts to locate him.
Matthew McCallan, aged 15 and from the Dungannon area, was found frozen to death in a ditch near Fintona in December, 2022, after attending a country music ‘Jamboree’ at the Ecclesville Centre.
He was allegedly removed from a bus and left behind after a night out with friends in the village.
Following his disappearance, reported on December 4, searches were conducted by the family and friends of Matthew. Two days later, his body was found in a ditch by a local woman.
A post mortem found that the teenager died of hypothermia.
Since then, his mother, Frances, has been seeking answers to her son’s death and an inquest is expected to begin at some point this year, however no date has yet been set.
Posting to social media, Frances claimed that despite search and rescue dogs being on standby, a decision was made not to use them.
“On the Sunday morning (of the search) SARDA (Search and Rescue Dogs Association) with their six specifically trained dogs, wanted to go out and help to search for Matthew.
“Time was against us, life was against us, the weather was freezing. I was begging, Matthew’s friends and family were begging. But the PSNI never took it on board…
“I remember my brother saying to me, ‘It’s getting dark now’, and I knew that it was too late, Matthew was gone,” said Frances.
“But I fully believe that if the dogs were allowed to be tasked that morning Matthew might possibly still be here today.
“If not, maybe I could have held his hand in hospital while he was dying. But I’ll never know because somebody within the PSNI felt that Matthew’s life wasn’t worthy of the dogs being tasked,” said Frances.
Previously the PSNI referred itself to the Police Ombudsman due to concerns raised about the search. A police spokesperson said, “Our thoughts remain with Matthew’s devastated family, however as there is an ongoing inquest, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
