Body taken from river thought to be teen

A body has been discovered by search teams looking for missing teenager James Sheehan.

The remains were recovered from the Avoca River in Arklow, Co Wicklow, last evening. The 18-year-old disappeared in the early hours of Sunday after a night out.

A Garda spokesman, who said the body had not been identified, thanked Boyne Fishermen River Rescue — who located the body — the Garda Water Unit, Civil Defence and the local community.

A postmortem examination will be held to determine the cause of death.

More than 100 volunteers had joined Mr Sheehan’s family and friends in the search over the last few days. Searches were carried out in Arklow town and the surrounding areas, including the reed beds at the Avoca River as it fell within a 1,500-metre radius of where the teenager was last seen.

Mr Sheehan, from Ballyduff Road in Arklow, was last seen leaving SallyO’Brien’s nightclub at 2.38am on Sunday. CCTV from around business premises in the town revealed that he left theclub and walked down Condren’s Lane.

The battery on his phone expired on Sunday morning.