Man found dead in river days after seeking psychiatric help

A 59-year-old man was found dead in the Tolka River in Dublin four days after he admitted himself to St Vincent’s Hospital in Fairview for psychiatric assessment, an inquest heard today.

Nurses at the hospital discovered the body of William Cooke, from Whitehall in Dublin, submerged in the water on November 28, 2004.

Padraig Mahon, a clinical nurse manager, said Mr Cooke, who had worked for 39 years with Dublin Corporation, was discovered missing from St Louisa’s open ward around 7pm that evening.

The Dublin City Coroner’s Court heard a visitor who was meeting another patient at the hospital had spotted Mr Cooke walking outside of the hospital along a nearby road.

Mr Mahon said they drove around the location and searched near the shop where he was spotted.

“At 8.25pm staff nurse Shane Madigan received a phone call from the same person. They had found a navy coat behind the Richmond Road lighting shop,” Mr Mahon said.

Equipped with torches, three of the nurses went back and searched the specific location near the Tolka River again.

“We saw a body lying in the river motionless with the head completely submerged,” Mr Mahon said.

Sergeant Paul Slattery from Howth Garda Station said gardaí had attempted to find the name of the visitor who found the navy coat belonging to Mr Cooke behind the shop.

“The hospital did not want to divulge the name of the patient,” he said.

A solicitor for the hospital, John Gleeson, said: “There could have been an issue of confidentiality.”

A daughter of the deceased, Catherine, questioned why a visitor to the hospital would go searching for another patient.

“I can’t understand why a normal person would just walk in behind there,” she said.

The coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, said the man was a material witness and adjourned the inquest until October. Mr Gleeson said the hospital would approach the patient to find out the name of the person and ask them to make a statement in relation to the inquest.

The inquest heard his wife Mary Rose Cooke and one of his daughters had visited him at the hospital before he disappeared.

Mrs Cooke told the inquest he had no medical history of psychiatric problems but had begun to act strangely in October of 2004.

She said he had been diagnosed with diabetes and a psychiatrist at Beaumont Hospital had found him slightly depressed and advised him to contact St Vincent’s Hospital.