The mother of missing American student Annie McCarrick doesn’t believe the body found in the Dublin Mountains is that of her daughter.

Nancy McCarrick told the Irish Star newspaper from her New York home that police believe the body is not that of Annie, missing since 1993.

The 26-year-old was last seen at a famous tourist pub just five miles from the location where a female skeleton was discovered by a walker last Friday night.

But Annie’s 70-year-old mum doesn’t believe the body is that of her daughter as police from Ireland’s cold case unit await the results of forensic and DNA tests.

Nancy McCarrick told the Star: “I don’t think the skeleton found in the Dublin mountains is my girl.”

Mrs McCarrick told the paper that police had informed her that they were looking at someone missing for only a few years.

The Irish Times reported that police have contacted the family of Elaine O’Hara a 36-year-old Dublin woman who disappeared in the area two years ago after visiting her mother’s grave. She was believed to be very depressed and foul play was not suspected.

Mrs McCarrick stated: “I am not hopeful it’s her. Not really, no.

“They are really thinking that it is someone who died a bit more recently. They don’t think it is her.”

She also revealed she had been contacted by a detective from the Garda’s Cold Case Unit shortly after the remains were found.

She added: “He told me that they would have to wait a few days until they had the tests back. So it is just a case of waiting until then.”

The paper also reports that the line  of enquiry being followed by police now suggests that the body was only on the mountainside for two years.

Officers are investigating claims that the body was dumped there after a woman was abducted and murdered and have also said the  possibility is that the death was a suicide.