The mother of a six-year-old girl who disappeared in Co Donegal 40 years ago has said she has received hate mail in recent times.
Speaking on RTÉ's Prime Time, Ann Boyle said she needs to know what happened to her daughter Mary.
"I've begged to know for 40 years what happened to Mary. I don't want an inquest that Mary is dead. I want to believe that Mary is still alive somewhere. I have to live that way."
She said that she has been subject to hate mail, including one from someone pretending to be her daughter.
"One was a Christmas card and the other was a letter, and the stuff that was in it was shocking. That threatened my life, and frightened the life out of me.
"One of them started off like it was from Mary. I mean, my God. That made me ill."
Her granddaughter Mary Duffy said it was very distressing for her grandmother.
"It's horrible and Nannie's afraid to be in her own home and no one should be left like that, it's horrible."
Mary Boyle disappeared in Cashelard near Ballyshannon on 18 March 1977.
She had followed her uncle, Gerry Gallagher, who was bringing a ladder back to a neighbour’s house around 400 yards away.
The last reported sighting of Mary was by her uncle that afternoon as she turned back towards her grandparent’s home just over halfway on the journey to the neighbour's house.
Ann Boyle believes Mary made it to the nearby road which links the townland of Cashelard with Belleek in Co Fermanagh.
Last July officers from the garda investigation team in the Northern Region began a dig in an area near where Mary disappeared, however no new evidence was found.
Mary and her twin sister Ann wore identical cardigans and wellingtons on the day Mary disappeared and gardaí have released images of the clothes worn by Ann on that day.
