Patrick Woods noticed Daniel McAnaspie straight away at the bus station in Drogheda. The teenager seemed agitated and upset. "He was talking out loud to himself. To be honest, I was trying not to engage him," Woods, a retired Israeli businessman who lives in Ireland and Switzerland, told the Sunday Tribune.

"But he sat behind me on the bus and I became involved in a conversation with him. He told me he was in foster care and was living in a hostel. He said he was worried about a friend who had become involved with a drug dealer. He was broken-hearted and crying. He said he wanted to kill himself. I remember he said, 'I don't have anything left to do but die.' He also said he was afraid the drug dealer was going to kill him. He said he wasn't involved in drugs but the guy who was involved with his friend was out to kill him."

Patrick Woods asked Daniel his name and the teenager showed him an identity card with his name McAnaspie printed on it. He asked the young man had he spoken to his family about the problems he was having. Daniel didn't mention that his parents were dead but said he was very close to his younger brother, who he spoke about at length.

Woods didn't know how much to believe about what this young man was telling him. But it was clear the teenager was suffering. "Daniel got off the bus in Slane. He told me he was staying in a hostel in Slane because there was nowhere else for him to stay," he said.

Woods was concerned enough about Daniel to go to the HSE office in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, when he got off the bus. He wanted to report to them what the young man had told him. After he arrived at the HSE health centre and explained the encounter with the teenager, he was taken to speak to a senior social worker. He told the social worker Daniel's second name was McAnaspie and that he had told him that he was suicidal and in fear of his life. "I relayed to her exactly what he had told me. They must have looked him up on the system and then they told me he wasn't in this catchment area, or something to that effect. She said, 'I can't do anything about it, he's not in our area'. I asked could they not call who­ever was in charge of his care and inform them. I was told they could not."

Woods was told that Daniel was in foster care in the Louth area. Later that day, he said he called the HSE office in Louth and relayed his conversation with the teenager on the bus to a childcare worker. "I was just trying to do my civic duty. I was surprised that I had to call the HSE office in Louth myself and that the social worker in Dunshaughlin could not do it. After I did that, I forgot all about it."

When Woods heard that a young man named Daniel McAnaspie was missing from care and that gardaí were concerned for his safety, he immediately phoned back the social worker in Dunshaughlin. "I spoke to the same social worker. I said, 'That boy that's missing was the one I was telling you about'. She seemed to get quite flustered. Then she told me, 'No, you gave me a different spelling of that name, you didn't say McAnaspie, Mr Woods.' I couldn't believe it. I am certain the boy I met was Daniel McAnaspie. How were they able to look him up on their system if I gave them the wrong name? I do think the HSE failed him and failed the over 5,000 children they have in their care."

On the night of his death, Daniel was out with friends in Finglas. It was 26 February. Eleven weeks later, his body was found in a drain in Co Meath. He had been stabbed to death. On the night he was killed, he had heard there was a party at a house in Whitestown Avenue, Blanchardstown, and along with two of his friends, a teenage boy and girl, he decided to go. The teenagers got a lift to Blanchardstown from their friends from Finglas. They met three others at the house in Blanchardstown. One of them was a teenage girl he knew and the two others were young men, believed to be in their early 20s, he did not know.

Plenty of alcohol was consumed over the course of the night. It is believed Daniel became involved in a row with the two men. The cause of the fight is unclear. Both of the men have been interviewed but said they didn't know how the teenager died. Five people, four men and a teenage girl, have been arrested and released without charge in the murder investigation to date.

Daniel's two friends are understood to have left the house in Whitestown Avenue when it became evident there was trouble brewing. They urged Daniel to leave with him but the 17-year-old told them he was fine and decided to stay with the men and the teenage girl.

Daniel was a vulnerable and trusting youngster. Born and raised in Finglas, he was the fourth of six children and there were problems within his family unit. He was three years old when his father Noel, who was using drugs, died. His mother Tina couldn't cope with six young children and developed a serious dependency on alcohol. Some of her children, including Daniel, were taken into state care in 2003. He was just 10 years old. Four years later, his mother died from medical complications relating to her alcohol dependency. At 14, Daniel became an orphan.

The McAnaspie family has been highly critical of his seven years in care. Shortly before he went missing, his aunt Sabrina had a meeting with the HSE. She said she warned them he would come to harm if he spent more time on the streets. He hated living in residential care homes and hostels, and frequently ran away.

The family's solicitor, Michael Finucane, is seeking a prompt and fully independent inquiry into how Daniel died in state care. The McAnaspies have little faith in the HSE's own review of the case.

Statement from the HSE

Any information given to a social worker in respect of concerns about a child would, as a matter of course, be passed to the Local Health Office (LHO) responsible for that child. In a situation where a child was judged to be at immediate or imminent risk, the LHO receiving the information would take steps to protect the child in cooperation with and on behalf of the responsible LHO.

The Social Work Service in Meath was contacted last July by a member of the public. The member of the public raised concerns about a teenage boy he had met. He did not identify the teenage boy as Daniel McAnaspie.

An independent panel under the HIQA guidance has been set up to fully investigate the care provided to Daniel and the circumstances leading up to his disappearance and death. Any concerns raised by family members, and other relevant parties, will be addressed in the course of the review, which will be conducted under an independent chairperson.