A PAL of missing Amy Fitzpatrick has told for the first time about “distraught” messages from the teen the night before she vanished.
Alan Quieros chatted with the missing Irish teen on a daily basis in the months before her disappearance nearly 15 years ago and said she was like a “little sister” to him.
The pair had their final exchange on New Year’s Eve in 2007 less than 24 hours before she was last seen.
READ MORE: The girl who vanished without a trace - Amy Fitzpatrick disappearance remains a mystery 15 years on
Alan said Amy hated living in Spain and was set to move back to Ireland within a matter of weeks — but was left devastated when the move back was cancelled.
The 39-year-old also revealed the 15-year-old, who was originally from Coolock, in Dublin was being bullied in school.
Speaking for the very first time, Alan said: “All Amy wanted to do was leave Spain, go back to Ireland, and live with her dad Christopher.
“She was told she could go back to Ireland and she was counting down the days, but was devastated when it [was] cancelled.”
Amy was just 15 when she vanished from Calypso in Mijas on the Costa del Sol in Spain on New Year’s Day 2008.
She was last seen when she left pal Ashley Rose’s home at 10pm where she was helping babysit her pal’s brother in Riviera del Sol near Mijas on the Costa Del Sol to return to her own villa, which was a 10-minute walk away.
At the time, Amy was living with her mum Audrey, her stepdad Dave Mahon and her brother Dean.
Tragic Dean (23) was stabbed to death by his stepfather Mahon on May 25, 2013.
Alan, who now works as a mechanic, said he was in a five-piece band and was preparing for a gig on New Year’s Eve when he had his last in touch with Amy.
He explained: “I was trying to get ready for the show. I was messaging her, in between getting ready, on MSN. I was calling my mates to arrange for equipment to be moved to the venue so I had all sorts going on.
“But Amy was distraught that night. She told me that the Ireland move had been cancelled. She was a bit vague about it.
“The conversation went on for a bit longer so I said ‘Aimz, I really need to go as I’m running late. I’ll speak to you tomorrow. Don’t worry about anything I’ll sort it out.
“Have a Happy New Year, I love you to bits.” And he said Amy responded with: “I love you, Happy New Year, and don’t worry about me, I’ve got a scheme.”
Alan, who met the Irish teen through another pal Kim Simpson, pressed Amy about what she meant and he told her not to “do anything silly” before reassuring her everything would be “sorted”.
He said she responded with “you’ll find out”. Alan said at the time he didn’t think too much about it until she was reported missing a couple of days later.
Speaking from Broadstairs in England, Alan continued: “After she was reported missing, I went straight back to that conversation and thought ‘frigging hell, Amy, what have you done.’
“I was thinking what did she mean by having a ‘scheme’. I phoned the Spanish police at the time about it but nothing ever came from it.
“But I began to get really worried when nobody heard from her.
“I started to think, there’s something more to this than meets the eye because there’s no way with all these appeals that Amy wouldn’t have reached out to her dad Christopher.”
Alan said at the time that it emerged a Ford Fiesta which belonged to a family friend had gone missing.
He said theories circulated that she was driving herself back to Ireland but Alan dismissed this.
He told us: “There was no way Amy drove anywhere. When I was in Spain in October before she went missing.
“Me and my brother had a hire car that we let Amy drive 100 metres down a rural road and she busted a tyre and smashed both wing mirrors off and there wasn’t another car on the road.
“So there is no way she drove that car.”
Alan also said he is 100 per cent certain Amy made it home when she left Ashley Rose’s home.
He said Amy never went anywhere without her pink Nokia phone. In a previous interview, Ashley also claims Amy had her phone with her when she left her house.
This claim is disputed by Amy’s mum Audrey who said Amy’s Nokia was in the house.
Mum Audrey is adamant that Amy didn’t have her phone, which was later found in their house, with her at the time of her disappearance.
Speaking about what he hopes to achieve by speaking out, Alan said: “I hope every day somebody will come forward with some sort of key information because as I say 15 years is a long time for Amy’s dad Chris and her aunty Christine to be worried like they have.
“They post something on Amy’s missing Facebook page nearly every day.
“The pair of them have soldiered on. They’ve been the ones fighting the fight.
“The information I have has never been released. I’m sure Amy was talking to lots of people in the days before she went missing so there may very well be other pieces of information that might seem insignificant on their own but as a whole may be crucial evidence.
“Amy is never off my mind and I hope there is closure one day.”
He also added that he doesn’t believe Amy is still alive.
Alan explained: “No, not after all this time, I would find it very difficult to believe, if I’m honest. Because after all this time she would have made contact with somebody.
“She loved her friends and her family.”
It comes as Amy’s aunt Christine has called for a cold case review into her niece’s disappearance.
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