Model searchers in public appeal

The investigation will now centre on a makeshift cross

Irish police searching for a missing model have appealed for help from locals.

Detectives dug up part of Monicnew Forest in the Slieve Bloom mountains after a makeshift cross with Fiona Pender's name was found.

The 25-year-old was seven months pregnant when she vanished in 1996 from her home in Tullamore.

They concluded their excavation on Wednesday without uncovering evidence of human remains.

The investigation will now centre on the cross, which was erected in the wooded area within the past number of weeks.

The operation began on Monday after the memorial with the missing woman's name written on it was found at the site on the Laois-Offaly border.

Gardaí have also renewed their appeal for information from anyone in the Tullamore area who may know something about Ms Pender's disappearance.

They said they are confident there are still people in the area who may be able to assist with the investigation.

It has emerged that a number of people who have used the Monicknew recreational area in the mountains in the last few weeks have come forward with additional information.

Ms Pender's mother, Josephine, appealed to the person who left the cross to come forward and said she hoped her daughter's body would be found.

She added that it was hard to understand why anybody would have erected a cross with Fiona's name on it at that location.

Mrs Pender said the cross was out of the ordinary and was the first time in the 12-year investigation into Fiona's disappearance that anything like that was found.