Metropolitan police have confirmed that the body that was discovered near Leicester Square is believed to be that of missing student Patrick Halpin.
The body was found last night off the main square, near Burger King and Zoo Bar where Patrick was last seen leaving in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: “Although formal identification has yet to take place, we believe the body found last night close to Leicester Square is that of missing Irish man Patrick Halpin.
“Next of kin has been informed.
“It is being [treated] as non-suspicious.”
The 18-year-old, who was a DCU student, went missing while on a trip with a college society.
The alarm was raised when he hadn’t returned to the hostel last Wednesday morning. His sister, Regina, launched a social media campaign across Facebook and Twitter to try and find him.
The police said that a post-mortem will be scheduled within the next few days.
Update (1.58pm): According to The Irish Times, police have confirmed that Halpin’s body was found on the roof of a restaurant off Leicester Square.
CCTV footage in the Hunt’s Court area showed Halpin climbing an outside stairs – It’s still unclear how he gained access to the roof.
In a statement this morning, Halpin’s sister, Regina, thanked the British police for their support:
“We’d like to thank all the communities both at home in Galway and all across Ireland and here in London and in DCU for their relentless energy and their faith. And finally to our neighbours, to the parish, our friends and family we just thank them for standing by us and for their huge support”.
She also thanked the “media who kept the story in the public eye and we’d ask that they continue to respect our privacy obviously at this difficult time”.
