Psychiatric patient ‘read book’ prior to drowning

A PSYCHIATRIC patient found dead in a river three days after he disappeared, had appeared calm and quietly read a book on the journey back to the mental health unit where he was being treated.

John Gallagher is believed to have taken his own life after walking out of a pub on the Shannon where he and two nurses had stopped for a break.

The body of the 40-year-old, an artist from Creeslough in Donegal, was discovered on Thursday evening, in the river 100 yards from where he was last seen on Monday.