POLICE are not looking for anyone in connection with the body found last night in London believed to be missing Irish teen Patrick Halpin.
Although no formal identification has taken place, officers searching for the 18-year-old confirmed this morning that they believe the body they discovered is that of Patrick.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson added: “Next of kin have been informed. His death is being treated as non-suspicious.”
The body was discovered at around 7:50pm yesterday, just metres from where Patrick, who came to London on Tuesday on a university society trip, disappeared in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The news came 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.
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”.
Patrick, who was in London 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 hundreds of 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 yesterday.
“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.”
Patrick Halpin was on a group trip to LondonShortly after arriving in London with her father yesterday 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 yesterday 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 on Wednesday 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 of The Book of Mormon [on Wednesday],” his sister said yesterday.
“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.”
See More: Leicester Square, London, Missing
