Body found near border could be missing Co Derry man

Leon Concheanainn said he spent most of Saturday at the site of the discovery and that while the body has not been formally identified, he thinks it’s probably his late brother.

"We’re not sure, for definite but there was a checked shirt and he had been wearing a checked shirt when he went missing," said Mr Concheanainn.

Mr Concannon went missing almost exactly 16 months ago on Saturday.

The 71-year-old, who suffered from dementia, was last seen getting off the Fernabbey bus on the Lenamore Road on November 10, 2015.

The remains discovered on Saturday were just a few hundred yards from where he would have got off.

"He was found almost exactly on the border," Mr Concheanainn added. "He was about 800 yards up from the bus stop. They found him down in a wee stream."

He blamed bad fortune for the fact the body wasn’t discovered earlier.

Hundreds of man hours in searches and the use of dogs all failed to pick anything up until Saturday.

"We’d like to thank everybody who helped with all the searches. It’s been such a long time.

"I’m actually delighted he’s been found and hopefully it will give the whole family a bit of closure," said Mr Concheanainn.

Police confirmed they received a report of the discovery of a body by a member of the public in the Lenamore Road area on Saturday.