INTERVIEW: 'I hope we get him back' says mother of missing Offaly man

THE mother of missing Offaly man Luke Price has said she is still holding on to hope that he will be found.

Luke Price (27), son of Pauline Price, Geashill, has not been traced since January 14 when he left his girlfriend's residence in Limerick.

A past pupil of Geashill National School and Tullamore College, Luke had been living near Portlaoise and regularly visited his girlfriend Danny at weekends.

A chef by profession, he was on holidays from his job in January and did not attend his delayed Christmas staff party.

He neither returned to work, to his friends and older brother Nathan in Limerick, or the home of his mother Pauline and partner David Garry.

Searches have taken place, a garda missing persons alert remains in place and the disappearance was featured on the Crimecall TV show.

The case has been widely publicised through social media and postering and there were a number of reported sightings in January.

It has been established that his mobile phone was switched off within about 10 minutes of leaving the house he stayed in and there has been no activity on his bank account since January 14. Pauline has also checked with Specsavers to see if her son has been in any of its branches.

“Our worst fear is that we never find out what happened him and that there'll never be sight nor sound of him and we won't know if he's dead or alive,” said Pauline, urging anyone with information to make contact.

“Even if he doesn't want to be found, at least we'll know he's alive. What we want is just to know that he's alive and he's safe. And if he doesn't want to be found and come home it's something we'll learn to live with and it will break our hearts but we need to know that he's okay.”

Though he has gone for walks before, perhaps to “clear his head”, and his mother believes he was on a low dose of medication for his mental health, nothing like this has ever happened before.

“This is completely out of character,” said Pauline.

She was in regular communication with her son (pictured below) through social messaging, right up to shortly before he was reported missing.

“I last spoke to Luke through Messenger, and he was either just about to leave or was on his way to Limerick and he was assuring me he was ok.”

She knew he had not attended the staff party the previous night because he was not feeling up to it. Now, over 110 days since his disappearance, Pauline is trying to come to terms with her feelings.

“If the worst comes to the worst we'll have to live with that. The worst is that he has died and we'll never find his remains. That's my worst fear. My second worst fear is that he's not alive, but we need to find him whatever condition he's in.

“I don't know if I'm being overly optimistic, foolhardy or grasping at straws but my instinct, my gut feeling... is that he's somewhere out on the west coast. I don't know why but I'm convinced of it.”

Reports of sightings have come from Ennis, Shannon town and Shannon airport. A woman took a photograph of a young man in Ennis and Pauline has seen the image but is not sure if it is him.

Another woman saw someone who looked like him in the airport. Luke does not have a passport.

“I have been told they do allow people to sleep at the airport and sometimes you do get rough sleepers there,” said Pauline.

Another report placed him in what was described as a “dishevelled state” in the Tullyglass Hill area of Shannon town.

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Pauline has been told a young man who said he lost his wallet but refused an offer for it to be reported to the gardai was “crouching” on the pavement in a manner which sounded familiar to her because it is something both she and her youngest son do.

Pauline, who completed the Leaving Certificate at the Sacred Heart School in Tullamore in 1983 and whose father Ray Kelly was employed at Irish Mist in the town, worked as a theatre nurse in Mullingar hospital.

She had a health scare of her own last year which required surgery and while on holiday in March of this year she found herself crying during a massage and reflexology session: “Everything came out. The tears came and they were for me. I had been so focussed on Luke.”

Luke's brother Nathan and a friend from Rahan, Ocean McCormack, have organised a rock and heavy metal music festival which will take place in John Lee's Bar in Tullamore on Saturday, May 31 next.

The Tullamore Phoenix Metal Festival will raise money for the National Missing Persons Helpline and further highlight the campaign to find Luke.

A gofundme page - Look for Luke charity fundraising festival Tullamore - has been set up by Ocean McCormack (log onto https://www.gofundme.com/f/look-for-luke-charity-fundraising-festival-tullamore).

Pauline concluded: “Please God we'll get him back. I hope we get him back, I hope he wants to come home. I just hope to God we find out what's happened to him.”

Anyone with information on Luke Price, described as having brown hair with bleached ends, blue eyes, 5 feet 10 inches tall and slight build, is asked to contact Henry Street Garda Station, Limerick on 061 212 400, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any garda station.  Below is a CCTV image of Luke on the day he was reported missing from O'Curry Street, Limerick.