The mother of missing girl Amy Fitzpatrick says she knows in her gut that she is dead.
Audrey Mahon has just marked the 15th anniversary of her daughter’s disappearance from the Mijas Costa area of Spain on New Year's Day 2008 - but she says she can’t bring herself to acknowledge it.
“I spent the day crying in bed last night. I do that most of the time at this time of the year. I get into the bed and curl up.
READ MORE: Amy Fitzpatrick's heartbroken family call for cold case review on anniversary of disappearance
“We don’t mark the anniversary. New Year's Eve, January first, we hide basically, We can’t do it,” Audrey said.
Audrey, who was recently given new information about questionable individuals her daughter was hanging around with in the days before her disappearance, says she knows deep down that she is no longer alive.
“My ma, my Da, my sister and her two nieces have died since then. She would have got in touch with somebody and she was very close with her brother.
“So no, she’s gone. She’s not around. I know she’s not in my gut.”
Audrey says her husband Dave Mahon - Amy’s stepfather, did not wish to comment on this story, and was generally unable to speak about his stepdaughter, as it is too painful for him.
“He can’t talk about Amy. It’s too hard.
“That’s his only daughter he ever had. He loved her like she was his princess,” Audrey said.
Recently pals of Amy corroborated a claim that she was being paid by suspected drug dealers to sit in a car with them in order to make them look less suspicious to police.
Audrey was told that Amy (15) was paid a hundred euro at a time for every occasion where she was asked to sit in the passenger seat of a car driven by a British man and sometimes his associates.
That man, she understands, was questioned by police in a UK prison a number of years ago - but he has never been arrested in relation to Amy’s disappearance.
That same information was passed to the La Guardia Civil back in 2008 - but it was only recently publicly disclosed.
Audrey says she is determined to get the answers, and has encouraged those responsible to come forward.
“Come forward. I’d offer an award if they came forward. I’d give every last penny I had.
“I’ll get the answers. Believe you me I’ll get the answers,” she said.
Her comments come also as a pal of Amy’s recently came forward about the last conversation he had with her on social media site MSN - on the night before she vanished.
Alan Quieros publicly disclosed for the first time the chat he had with Amy on New Year’s Eve - in which the teen told him she had a “scheme.”
Amy had confided in Alex that her mother Audrey had cancelled a planned trip home to Ireland, and he says she was “distraught” over this.
Audrey recently confirmed Alex’s account to this paper and said she had no choice but to cancel the trip because her son Dean had gotten into trouble.
Alex, who has only recently spoken to Audrey for the first time in 15 years, says he now has a greater understanding of the situation than he did at the time.
“Now Audrey, she was very open and honest for the reason the Ireland trip fell through.
“It leads me to believe I was a knobhead 15 years ago in deciding to not talk to her in the first place about all of this.”
Alex says Amy told him she had a “scheme” after her mother cancelled the trip - and he warned her not to do anything stupid.
“Amy was distraught because the Ireland move had fallen through. I said to her what happened and she was very vague about it.
“Amy said ‘my mum said I'm not going now.’
“So I said to Amy tomorrow I'm going to phone (a friend) and I'll get her to sort out your passport and flights. I'll send her the money,” Alex said.
But he said the teen, who he was friends with as part of a wider group, told him not to worry - and that she had a plan of her own.
“I said to Amy I’ve got to go. You and Ashley have a great New Years and I love you to bits. I said don’t worry about anything me and (a friend) will get it sorted out.
“She said ‘Happy New Year, don’t worry about me, I've got a scheme. I said what do you mean and she said don’t worry, you’ll find out. I love you.
“I said don't do anything silly, Amy. Love you, speak to you tomorrow. She said love you back and that was the last thing we said to each other.”
Now Alex says he firmly believes Amy had some sort of a plan that she thought would get her back to Ireland.
“She was going to get back to Ireland by hook or by crook. For her to say don't worry about me I’ve got a scheme, she had that planned in her head,” Alex said.
But he says he fears Amy never made it home.
“There’s no way in 15 years that Amy wouldn’t have eventually reached out to somebody.
“The one person she would have reached out to would have been her Dad,” he said.
Recently Audrey told this paper she was thankful for Alex coming forward - and giving her new and perhaps crucial information for the first time in 15 years.
“He spoke to her 15 years ago. 15 years and it's something new. This is the first time we’ve heard of this.
“That's the first I’ve heard about that.
“It’s stumped us. God knows what was in her head because she’s a hot head like me. It’s really important information.”
“Believe you me she was clever,” she said.
Audrey confirmed that she did cancel Amy’s planned trip back to Ireland, which she says was happening to mark her upcoming 16th birthday.
She says she did so because her son Dean, who was later killed, had gotten into “trouble” - something she kept quiet about at the time Amy vanished.
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