Mr Brendan Brady, the disabled Irishman who disappeared at EuroDisney last Wednesday, was found by police, sitting on a park bench at the Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées in Paris at about 6.30 p.m. yesterday. He had gone missing during a visit to the theme park organised by RehabCare.
At the police commissariat of the 8th arrondissement last night, Mr Des North, the community services manager for RehabCare, was the first familiar face Mr Brady had seen since Wednesday.
"He was cool as a breeze," Mr North said. "I gave him a big hug. I'm sure I broke his ribs. He said he was feeling pretty good and I asked him if he needed a doctor. He said no, all he was was hungry. He wanted a cheeseburger and chips. "
The first thing Mr Brady did was telephone his mother Eileen in Palmerstown, west Dublin. When Mrs Brady said: "Oh my God Brendan, I thought I'd never see you again!", Mr Brady replied: "I'm fine," and shrugged, calm in the midst of the bustle.
Mr Brady's clothes were grimy and he had five days growth of beard, but he seemed so fit that the RehabCare staff who had searched hostels, train stations and Irish pubs for him accepted he did not need a hospital. "I'm not walking anywhere else!" he said.
In a police commissioner's office, Mr Brady (42) told how he had absent-mindedly followed a crowd into Chessy train station last Wednesday, mistaking them for his group of 10 from RehabCare.
When he realised his mistake, he bought a train ticket back into the city. "I didn't sleep at all the first night," he said. He got into a taxi and asked for his hotel, but he could not remember the street.
For five days he walked, asking where the Kyriad Hotel was, not knowing that the chain has six hotels in Paris. An American befriended him as did several French people with good English. He meant to go to the police, but never got round to it.
He was found when three patrol officers, who had seen a television news report, and a policewoman recognised him from the posters RehabCare had placed in metro stations.
"Do you realise you're famous, Brendan?", his friends asked. "Ah yeah?" he replied, with the slightest chuckle. They showed him the missing poster. "That's not a great picture of me," he commented.