Man quizzed over death of girl, 12

A post mortem will be carried out today to establish what caused the suspicious death of a 12-year-old girl.

A man in his late teens remained in custody last night in connection with the death of the missing child, who was named locally as Michaela Davis.

She was found in thick undergrowth on a steep bank near the Royal Canal in west Dublin yesterday afternoon.

The schoolgirl left her home in the Blanchardstown area at around midnight on Friday night, telling family members she would be back soon, but never returned.

After a day-long search involving Irish police, a member of the public discovered her body less than a mile away from her home at around 4pm.

The scene, close to a railway track, is across a piece of waste ground from her family home in the Village development off the Porterstown Road.

The arrested teenager was taken to Blanchardstown Garda Station for questioning.

Detectives were last night trying to piece together Michaela's final moments while the Republic's state pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, was working to establish the cause of her death.

Michaela's body was removed from the scene around 9pm and taken to Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown, where the post-mortem is due to be carried out later this morning.

It is understood Michaela was out with friends earlier on Friday night but returned home. At around midnight she then apparently said she was stepping out again for a while.

When she had not returned by 2am, her family contacted gardai at Blanchardstown Garda Station.