POLICE searching for missing Irish teen Patrick Halpin have found a body in London.
The body was discovered this evening, just meters from where the 18-year-old disappeared in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The news has come shortly after the young man’s distressed family had their hopes raised when they were told that Patrick had been located by airport security at Gatwick.
But within minutes they were sent “back to square one” as police confirmed it was a false alarm.
This evening a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said the body discovered by officers was “in an enclosed area in the vicinity of Burger King and the Zoo Bar off Leicester Square”.
He added: “Enquiries are underway to establish the identity of the deceased.”
Patrick, who was in London on a trip with Dublin City University’s drama club, was last seen leaving Zoo Bar in the early hours of Wednesday morning to go to a nearby Burger King.
The area is one of the city’s busiest, with thousands of people passing through it every day.
Patrick’s sister Regina Halpin previously told The Irish Post that her brother had never gone missing like this before.
“It would be completely out of character for Patrick to go off galavanting or to go missing without at least letting someone know where he was going,” she explained this morning.
“He would have sent a text to somebody or somebody would have known where he was going whenever he went out and would go back to a friend’s house.
“This was definitely different. He was in a different city and has just turned 18, so he would have been quite excited at it all and that might have been a factor.”
Shortly after arriving in London with her father this afternoon, Miss Halpin was told that her brother had been discovered safe and well at Gatwick Airport.
Patrick, originally from Loughrea in Galway, had been due to return to Ireland today with fellow members of DCU’s drama society.
But police discovered that it was a false alarm after searching the plane without finding the young man
The group’s block booking – with Patrick’s name on it – is believed to have triggered the confusion, according to Patrick’s family.
Patrick, who plays hurling with local club Kilnadeema/Leitrim and was a part of Ireland’s under-18 volleyball team, had not visited London since his childhood.
Friends initially thought he was out buying food when he could not be found yesterday morning at the Astor Museum Hotel, where the drama society was staying.
But their fears grew when his phone continued to ring out and he did not collect his theatre tickets.
“Patrick had bought tickets to see the matinee performance ofThe Book of Mormon yesterday,” his sister said this morning.
“He was particularly excited about that and had been looking forward to it for ages. So when he did not come back to collect his tickets people realised something was wrong.
“That was when alarm bells went off and when they started to go and look in hospitals for him and contact the police.”
