Brother of Larne man missing since October says his remains have been found in Co Down river
The 45-year-old was caught on CCTV leaving his flat in Priory Gardens and withdrew £100 from a cash machine in the Co Antrim town on October 12 at 10.30am
His disappearance sparked a multi-agency search operation with rivers, forests and the Larne Lough with his heartbroken brother, Simon Patterson, accepting they were 'looking for a body.'
Remains that were subsequently discovered in a river Crawfordsburn near the Ballyrobert Road area on Saturday have been found to be that of Gary's.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Simon expressed his relief at finding the body and said he received a call from the police detailing the remains were found alongside his brothers possessions.
'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,' Simon said.
'There was that much information in the call [with the police], we sort of knew because the coat and his wallet had actually been found with the body.
'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.'
Throughout the months his brother was missing, Simon employed specialist diving squads with a submersible Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to search enclaves in Larne Lough.
Simon told this newspaper he had been conducting searches 'religiously' every week and pledged not to stop until his brother was found.
Gary was described an avid collector of DVDs, quiet and 'a wee bit of a loner', by his brother. He was known to be proud of his flat where he lived alone and 'was set in his routine', usually returning home by 4pm.
His distraught brother also labelled his sibling as a 'kind' man who 'never took a drink or drugs' and loved to frequent charity shops in his hometown.
A spokesman 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.'
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