THE family of a missing Antrim man have confirmed that remains found in a river belong to him.
Gary Patterson was last seen alive in his hometown of Larne in October of last year.
The 45-year-old was reported missing by his family, and was caught on CCTV leaving his flat in Priory Gardens.
He then withdrew £100 (€118) from a cash machine in the town on October 12 at 10.30am.
After he went missing, a multi-agency search operation was launched, spanning rivers, forests and the Larne Lough.
Now, his brother has revealed that his remains have been found in a Co Down river.
Simon noted that they accepted they had been “looking for a body” throughout the search.
The remains were found in a river in Crawfordsburn, near the Ballyrobert Road area.
The remains, that were found on Saturday, have been confirmed as Gary’s.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Simon noted that he is relieved that his brothers remains had been found.
Recalling the moment he heard the news, he said: “I first got the news on Sunday while we were doing a search and we received a phone call from police in CID [Criminal Investigation Department] asking them to come across to speak to us.
“There was that much information in the call [with police], we sort of knew because the coat and his wallet had actually been found with the body.”
BROTHERS VOW
He revealed that in the past while, the family had contacted funeral homes.
Simon continued: “We’re just going through the motions. Because we have known for a wee while, we’ve sort of contacted funeral homes and stuff to have ourselves organized whenever the body is released.
“At the end of the day, our priority is to get closure and get him laid to rest.”
While Gary was missing, Simon had employed specialist diving squads that had a submersible Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to search Larne Lough.
He conducted searches every week, and vowed not to stop until Gary was found.
Simon described him as a collector of DVDs, adding that he was quiet and “a wee bit of a loner.”
He said that he was proud of his flat, where he lived alone, and was set in his routine – which involved returning home by 4pm usually.
But he added that he was “kind” and “never took a drink or drugs,” and was known to visit the charity shops in his home town.
A spokesperson from the PSNI said: “A post-mortem has been carried out and our efforts are ongoing to identify the remains. We can provide no time scale for this process.”
