The mother of a Co Tyrone teenager who lost his life after attending a country music night two years ago has handed over £5,000 and a drone to a search and rescue organisation who she says could have helped save him.
Matthew McCallan (15) was found dead in a ditch on a road near Fintona two days after going missing from his friends on a night out in December 2022.
An inquest into the teenager’s death is due to be held some time in 2025, with a post-mortem finding the cause of death to be hypothermia.
The family had previously raised concerns over the PSNI investigation into Matthew’s missing person case, following which the force referred itself to the Police Ombudsman.
Matthew’s mother Frances Currie and other family members have raised thousands in efforts to fund drone technology used by the Search and Rescue Dog Association in Ireland in rescue missions for missing persons.
On the second anniversary of her son’s death, Frances said she still grapples with the pain of what happened to her son.
“It gets harder, it just gets harder and harder,” Frances said.
“Everybody around me is moving on with their life, and I just feel that I can’t relate to anyone any more as I don’t have children of my own.
“The only thing I have left is trying to get justice for what happened to Matthew that night.
“My Christmases are just ruined forever, that cold, cold weather just brings back memories from that night that that’s what my child was left in.
“It’s just tough, there’s no two ways about it.”
Having purchased their own drone to help with missing person investigations, Matthew’s family have now handed it and the £5,000 sum over to SARDA in an effort to support their work.
“It was just the right thing to do, and I hope to continue to fundraise for Search and Rescue.
“They are a fantastic organisation, we met up last Sunday and we handed over the cash and the drone and they were just delighted.”
