 Today's Declan's birthday, it's the 5th of April and he is 14, a very significant age I think, it's halfway through to becoming an adult and a very special day for us and the family because it's his birthday anyway. So of course we're hoping that he's watching this and that he is or hearing it somewhere or somehow knowing that we're thinking very much of him today on his birthday, that he has lots of lovely presents at home to tempt him with. If he wants to come and get them, there will be no questions asked, not. And if he just wants to come home or just ring us, that would be fantastic. So how will you be? What was it like waking up this morning? Was there still that hope it's his birthday today, he's going to walk in that door? Yeah, I think so. Is it now more than ever that you were thinking that today would be the day if he was ever going to walk in, was today the day? I think I'm trying to put myself into the head of a 13-14 year old and I know that teenagers live in the moment and are very self-centred, that's all part of their development, that's normal and natural. And I'm thinking, well if I was that age and I knew I had some expensive presents waiting for me that I really wanted, I might just overcome any concern I might have about coming home and getting into trouble. And because everyone's always nice to you on your birthday and that sort of thing. So yeah, I suppose that's what I was thinking. This whole time must have been incredibly hard for you. Is today particularly hard? It's particularly hard for my daughter, his sister. She's really feeling it hard today, that's why she's not here. But for me, I've found the process has just toughened me up. I've been through such a range of emotions in the last nearly four weeks that I just have to say, well I'm not going to go there because otherwise I've fallen a heap so I just have to toughen up and do the job and get on with it. Have school friends come to you at all saying that they'll be doing anything special for his birthday and sort of honour of him? Not that I know of but I've tried to keep them at a distance just because they're kids and they're very emotional and I don't need the extra emotion to just be able to keep doing my job which is what I have to do to find them. What message to people out there? I'm pretty certain that Deck is not on his own that he's got somebody with him and whoever they are they probably don't really mean any harm, they're just not thinking or they're in the moment as well, they're just having a good time or whatever's going on and I just like them to just stop for a minute and think about the cost to everybody else not just his immediate family but all his friends, everybody who knows him even people who don't know him at all. It's just really heart-wrenching for everyone in cans and even in a greater area than that. Why are you so certain that someone is helping him, what makes you so certain? He wouldn't be able to survive, he hasn't got any money or he's got very little money but we're really far along now so that would have been long gone and even if he was sort of stealing or breaking in to support himself I don't think he would be able to survive. He's not a street-wise kid, he's never done this before I've said all this before but I don't think he would really be able to survive too well without help and certainly not stay hidden this long and I'm pretty sure that if he was in a situation where he was unhappy or he didn't like it he'd just say stuff this and come home so he must be in a situation where it's conducive to having a good time where he's enjoying himself. And your main message is to him, no questions asked, just come home? Yeah, just come home. We miss you, come home and happy birthday. What's it like in the family home without him today? Well I've actually been at work today and I was out doing a media interview first thing this morning at the Cruck-a-Dawn so I haven't had that experience yet. When I get home then I'll be able to answer that question because at the moment I'm too busy I haven't had that quiet moment to really think about it. What sort of support are you getting particularly on a day like this? Well my family are fantastic, my partner Peter and Grace, my daughter, fantastic everybody at work is just fantastic and I must say the police have been great too and I'm getting lots of support from friends and yeah I couldn't have more support really. And you're still working itself like you're keeping yourself busy so is that a particular reason why? Why I'm working? Yeah. Well I think there's a limit to how much time you can actually not work you know life goes on, you still have to be able to pay your bills but it's actually quite grounding for me. The first couple of weeks there was just no normal and I wasn't really working the first couple of weeks and being back at work now there is a hint, a tinge of normal and that's really good, that's helpful. Have you been in touch at all with the Morkham parents at all? With Daniel Morkham's parents and if so have they been helpful? I haven't been in touch with them I think they've got a lot on their plate at the moment and certainly that's been suggested to me and that might happen down the track I don't know I don't have any plans to do so at the moment but I think they've got their own issues at the moment and their own grief so I don't want to intrude on that. It's been four weeks now I mean did you ever think that it would go on this long? I had no idea it would go on this long no just like everybody else they put your turn up after a couple of days and I just have been naughty and come home again What sort of things that go through your mind? The funny thing is that the longer it's gone on the more sure I've become that he's having an adventure that he's doing something which is he's been true to himself this is what he really wants to do he's only a kid though, he thinks he's probably older than he is this is the sort of thing you might set off to do when you're 18 or something when you're left school I'm going off to travel, I'm going off to have an adventure and he can't wait, I think that's what he's done I think he's just gone hey this is a really good opportunity I'm going to go off and find myself and do my thing and I know my parents won't let me because he's right, we wouldn't have so he's just gone and done it Is there a reason though that you feel that way? Is that because of his friends that you've spoken to that make you feel like that? No it's knowing him and knowing he's my son Did he always seem like he wanted to sit out and do something? Is that the type of person that he was that he wanted to go off on an adventure? He was always adventure focused from young ages he always had a very inquisitive, inquiring mind always wanted to know everything about everything he's always, I've said this many times he's always read adventure books he loves fantasy games where you go off and conquer things and fight and he quite often he has a great imagination and he's talked a lot about where he'd like to go and what he'd like to do with his life which is fairly unusual for that age he hasn't been talking about career prospects or what he'd like to do with his career but these are the experiences he'd like to have so I'm just thinking that's what's going on in his head What regions of Australia appeal to Declan? Do you think that he would venture to? Well his fantasies have always been about much further away places like overseas or the moon or outer space or something but I'm not really sure a big city I think would have appeal he's been to Sydney he hasn't been to Melbourne since he was a baby so he wouldn't really remember that otherwise I don't really know Interaction with his friends have you got any sort of better idea of the frame of mind you was at before he went missing? I haven't had any interaction with his friends yeah the police have been doing that What was the last time you spoke to him what was his frame of mind then? Same as normal the same as normal I dropped him off at school because he asked for a lift that day because he was running late and he was going to miss the school bus that gives him extra few minutes to wake up so I took him to school and I gave him a job to do which was please go and take this to the office when he got out of the car drove him right to the office he took off in the opposite direction which is very typical of Declan because he's already his head was somewhere else so I leant out the window and said office, oi, office and he went, oh and he went off to the office and that was just very typical of Declan and it's just a normal day of him with his head somewhere else completely and not in practical things Any comments? Do you want any comments from me? Obviously it's a somber day for the family because it is Declan's 14th birthday but tomorrow is four weeks since he has gone missing and I think the police would like as Ruth is hopeful that Declan will walk into that door and say hello to us and I'm here for my birthday but obviously from a policing perspective and as police and investigators we do have some serious concerns grave concerns for his safety we've conducted extensive investigations to date we've had reported sightings but none of those have been confirmed or verified so yes we do have some concerns our investigations will continue along we are piecing together every minute of his day for seven days leading into when he went missing to give us some further insight as to what he might be thinking who we might have been speaking to those investigations are continuing as are our other investigations Like I said, like Ruth I think we would all like to see Declan just turn up and say mum, I'm home I've been away on my adventure and I'm back but as police and as investigators we certainly do have those concerns now investigations will continue How many sightings to date now have you had? Well we've had 150 crime stopper reports they're not all sightings as well as that we've had other people come forward to various police stations so we're following up on all of those but like I said, none of those have been confirmed or supported by any other evidence to date so that's where our concerns lie we investigate a number of scenarios there are about four or five scenarios that we're looking at and we will continue along that vein And I understand our extra police have been flown up from Brisbane Yes, we have constantly been involving other detectives from crime operations command they've been excellent support and they assist us with our not any investigations but running the major incident room conducting investigations intelligent checks they've been excellent support to this investigation Are you concerned that Declan may think this thing has become really big? No, because I think we constantly reiterate that we're more concerned about your safety and where you are and your parents just want you back Yes it is big and it really needs to be big because a child's gone missing and we want it to be out in the public eye so people can talk about it people know who we is and if they do see him they need to contact us but I think with that though we do make the comments in the media that yes, if you are Declan if you're out there, come home and we'll deal with that later we just want to know that you're safe This must be an emotional day for the family Is it the same for police who've been working around the clock? Yes I think it is because we've got to know the family and Ruth and Grace especially are very well through this process and I know Grace is not handling today or any other day very well as you'd expect of a family member so for police that become heavily involved in these matters yes we're very connected and very similar to the family So what now? I mean it seems like authorities have really looked at every option are they just going back to the start and going through it again? We will constantly go through it again even though it might be four weeks time we'll think, hang on a minute we need to go back and do this again just to be comprehensive in everything we do but we have constantly got information coming in so as well as retracking our steps being comprehensive in that regard we follow up new leads constantly Any new leads? Unfortunately all the leads and all the information that has come in hasn't taken us any further than what we were on that first day and like I said we have investigated this extensively and will continue to do so but we're at a loss and we do ask, I can tell you people of Matians be very patient with us because we are going back to some people three, four, five times and we need to and that will continue but we will continue at this until we have an answer Did the woman in the cat incident ever come up? Can it come forward? I don't know if we're still looking at that as to that option but that's just one of our many inquiries Anything else that you'd like to add? All I can add is today is I suppose a special day for the family and Declan if you're out there come home but really we need to keep highlighting the fact that he is missing we need to get his pictures out there and I think there's some footage video footage of him that we will release as well we need people to keep talking about this I'm over the view that someone does know something unless there was some misadventure involved but we need the public to keep coming forward with the information that they have Thank you very much The sun rise