The death of Brian McDermott 30 years ago was one of the most gruesome and shocking murders carried out in Northern Ireland.
Anyone who read newspapers and watched television news bulletins at the time is unlikely to forget the horrific fate of this 10-year-old boy, whose mutilated body was found in a sack in the River Lagan on September 8 1973.
The child had last been seen at a playground in Ormeau Park in south Belfast on Sunday September 2. When he failed to return home for Sunday dinner, his family raised the alarm.
The search for the missing boy gripped the public imagination, with police launching a massive poster and publicity campaign in a bid to find him.
The discovery of his dismembered body near the Annadale Embankment stunned and sickened people everywhere and led to wide-pread fear among parents.
For 30 years, this terrible crime has gone unsolved. However, the police yesterday launched a fresh appeal in a bid to find whoever was responsible for Brian McDermott's murder.
A number of lurid theories were put forward in the aftermath of the killing and police yesterday confirmed that they were not ruling out witchcraft, paedophilia or sectarianism as possible motives.
It is disturbing to think that anyone capable of such a savage and depraved child murder has been walking free for three decades.
It is not clear why detectives have decided to reopen the case after all this time, but if the person or persons responsible are still alive, then the police must pursue them with due diligence.
