The boy’s parents both say he died in bed, they panicked and secretly buried him in a shallow grave. Police searching marshlands in Ireland have not yet found him

Gardai are searching for the missing boy(Image: FOTO TEMPLATES <[email protected]>)

A little boy who is missing, presumed dead, was secretly buried with his favourite teddy bear and changed into his pyjamas after he died, it has been revealed.

It is understood that a suitcase, which is believed to have contained the little boy’s clothes and toys, was seized by gardai from the apartment in Donabate where the child’s mother continues to live, the Irish Mirror claims. A photograph of the little boy – which is understood to have been hidden in the apartment – was also recovered by officers during a search of the property.

The mother – who was born in Africa but has lived in Ireland since she was a child – continues to maintain that the child died in his sleep from natural causes. It has previosuly been revealed that the tot was kept in the apartment for 24 hours following his death – and then removed from the property the following night, placed in a rucksack and secretly buried on lands over 4km away.

The boy’s remains have not yet been found(Image: Collins Photos)

Searches have continue this week on the stretch of marshy lands that has been sealed off as dozens of officers scour the stretch of land. It has emerged that the told was wrapped in a blanket and placed back in his bed – until he was removed from the apartment, placed in a rucksack and brought to the site with his favourite teddy bear that his foster parents gave him.

The little boy’s parents gave him up for adoption and placed with a foster family in State care with Tusla – the Child and Family Agency. However, when the boy was around 18 months old, his mother changed her mind and he was returned to her and her then partner, the boy’s dad.

The search has been taking place for a week(Image: collinsphotos.com)

Both the boy’s mother and his father – who is from Ireland but has since moved to South America – continue to be spoken to informally by investigators. Sources say they both claim they discovered the boy dead in his bed and panicked before secretly burying him in the marshy lands nearby.

The mother, accompanied by her solicitor Martin O’Donnell of Morgan Redmond Solicitors in Swords and investigators, showed officers a new spot in the stretch of land last Saturday evening, where she claims the boy’s remains were buried in secret.

The boy has not been found(Image: collinsphotos.com)

So far no remains of the little boy have been found. Gardai from Swords Station, who are leading the investigation, are working on the assumption that the boy was buried on the land. There are fears that because he was buried in a shallow grave, that wild animals such as foxes, which have been seen in the area, may have disturbed his remains.

Sources say gardai are “certain the child existed but that the child is now dead.”