Amy mum to marry man accused of son's murder

Audrey Fitzpatrick said she intends to marry Dave Mahon before he is expected to stand trial in July accused of murdering her son, Dean.

Dean (23) died following a stabbing incident in North Dublin in July 2013.

Audrey's daughter Amy was 15 when she disappeared close to their Spanish home on January 1, 2008.

"I love him. He is my rock. I will be proud to be his wife," Ms Fitzpatrick (46) said of her 43-year-old partner. The couple have been engaged for the past eight years, but put their plans to marry on hold after Amy went missing.

They moved back to Ireland and continue to hold out hope that Amy will one day be found.

bridesmaid

"Amy was to be the only bridesmaid and Dean was to walk me down the aisle," said Ms Fitzpatrick.

But she hopes the wedding will bring some happiness to their lives.

"We will have an awful lot of well-wishers and we will have the other side, but we will take the good with the bad," she said, accepting that some people might react badly to her marrying the man who will be tried for allegedly killing her son.

"Everybody has their own opinion and they are entitled to it, but they have never walked in our shoes," she said.

"Dave knows I love him. He knows he's my rock. He knows I'd be lost without him. I would be dead without him."

cfeehan@herald.ie