STILL HAUNTED BY BOY IN THE ATTIC; 1970s crucifix murder leaves garda scarred.

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Byline: NAOMI McELROYTHE horrified garda who found a naked seven-year-old boy crucified upside down in an attic yesterday said: "It still haunts me."Garda Sean O'Loughlin was part of a massive manhunt to find missing John Horgan, who vanished from his home in Palmerstown, Dublin, in June 1973.But as they searched, little John was next door all along, tied from the ceiling rafters above a grotesque satanic altar.He had been brutally murdered by his 16-yearold babysitter Lorcan Bale, who lured him to a nearby field, beat in his skull, then dragged his bloody body to the attic.Mr O'Loughlin said he became suspicious when he quizzed Bale in his home and the killer kept glancing upstairs.The twisted teen kept his bedroom door locked but when the nowretired garda got inside he found a hole in the ceiling, hidden by a large wardrobe that stretched from the floor.Mr O'Loughlin added: "I went out to the patrol car and got a lamp from the car."There was no stairwell into the attic so I stood on the bannister and pushed up the trapdoor and shone the lamp up - and what I saw there still haunts me to this day."The boy was tied to a makeshift cross, naked and obviously dead."The horrified garda didn't go into the attic as he wanted to preserve the evidence.He said: "It was very, very obvious [he was dead]. He was naked and it was obvious he had been clubbed in the back of the head, it was very, very obvious he was dead."If I'd thought there was the slightest chance he was alive I would have gone in."Speaking to RTE's Liveline Mr O'Loughlin added: "I got everybody out of the house to preserve the scene and then the priest came later on and I asked him, 'Where does this lead to Father, this is black magic'."The little boy's body was lying on the couch at this stage and he said, 'This is where it leads to', gesturing to the little boy's body."Retired garda Gerry O'Carroll, who also joined in the search for John, told how another officer barred his way when he tried to enter the Bale house.He said: "I made to go in the front door of the house and he pushed in front of me, he was a very deeply religious man, and he said, 'Don't go in."'There's a lot of strong men in there who've had their stomachs turned by what they've seen.' "I said, 'What?', and he said, 'He's been crucified'."Mr O'Carroll told how gruesome Bale stole from churches and robbed graves to make his macabre satanic altar.He added: "He had all the artefacts he had stolen from a Catholic church, the chalice, the host, he had gone into a graveyard and dug up bones."But most chilling of all, I drove down to Lucan and the detective said, 'He's in there and it's quite extraordinary, he's talking about his failure'."Lorcan Bale was in there and in his hysteria he was talking disjointedly to a master we now know as the Dark Lord about his failure, how he had failed."His diabolical plan was, in the list that was found down by the river where he clubbed that young John Horgan to death, was a list of victims."If he had had his way he would have become a serial killer, a diabolical killer."Mr O'Loughlin said he was never able to allow his children to lock their bedroom doors after seeing what was hidden in the attic that day.He added: "One of my children locked the bedroom door one time - I lost it with him a little bit. It was a rule, you never lock the door in my house."It still haunts me, not a day goes by. But I can still see it as clear as yesterday."Author David Malone has written a book, The Boy In The Attic, about the horrific murder.He said Bale is now married with no children and has never given an explanation for what he did.But he added: "I'd say not a day goes by that he doesn't think of that June day in 1973."The Boy In The Attic is published by Mainstream Publishing.CAPTION(S):HORRIFIC Book KILLERZ EvilBale MURDERED John Horgan BATTERED John Horgan was found murdered in Lorcan Bale's home