The mother of a man believed to have gone missing at the Giant’s Causeway last weekend has told of how there has been a possible sighting of him.
Lalitha McLennan said a tour guide has reported speaking to her son Lester in the Dunseverick Castle area.
She also told of her ongoing anguish following her son’s disappearance, describing how earlier this week, she had “lost all energy and got to a point where I was very distressed, but I feel like I’m back on it today”.
Lester, who is reported to have travelled to Northern Ireland from England with his mother, had taken a bus from Belfast to the Giant’s Causeway at 9.30am on Friday. The last confirmed trace from his phone was around 5.30pm at the popular tourist attraction.
He was reported missing and a search was launched on Saturday.
Speaking about the latest sighting, Ms McLennan said: “The police told me Lester had spoken to him for a certain amount of time and was asking him questions about the local area.
“He then set off in the direction of Dunseverick Castle.
“He was at that time near the stacks,” she told the Belfast Telegraph.
She also issued another appeal to the two men who handed in a backpack belonging to Mr McLennan on Saturday to come forward in a bid to help police further narrow the search area.
“I can’t stress enough how helpful that would be,” she said.
URGENT APPEAL FOR INFORMATION@PSNICCGDistrict are appealing for the visitors who found a black backpack at the Giant’s Causeway on Saturday afternoon to come forward. The backpack was handed in by two males to the audio guide desk at the rear of the Visitor Centre. pic.twitter.com/2U42GRHc53
— Giant's Causeway (@GCausewayNT) November 4, 2024
“The bag had his passport and I think, possibly, they carried it quite a way as they thought it was important.
“Where the phoned last pinged is such a huge area, its around 12 miles across I think. Originally we thought [the bag] was found in the carpark but it was just handed into the staff there.”
She said while her son was “quite low and anxious during lockdown”, he had recently started an access course to go to university and was “so excited about it”.
“It was really nice, he was full of enthusiasm. He said he could see a future for himself,” she added.
In a statement on Wednesday, police said: “Police in Coleraine continue to conduct a number of enquiries as part of the investigation into missing 20-year-old Lester McLennan and are providing regular updates to Lester’s family with regards to the investigation.”
