Family of ‘gifted student’ Patrick Halpin was given false hope

The family of a “gifted and talented” student who disappeared during a college trip to London was given false hope about him being alive when mistakenly told he had boarded a plane home to Ireland.

In fact Patrick Halpin, 18, from Loughrea, Co Galway, had plunged from the roof of a Burger King outlet after walking off in search of food during a night out in Leicester Square.

His body was not found until two days later after police launched a missing person’s inquiry and scoured CCTV footage from the West End nightspot.