A TEENAGER from Co Down was found dead last weekend on a remote hillside after walking home from a discotheque in extreme cold. It is believed that David Neill (17), an asthma sufferer, died from exposure after he fell several times.
David, a student at St Colman's High School in Ballynahinch, had set off alone from a public house in Downpatrick on St Stephen's night.
He was wearing only light clothing. He was walking to his home in Drumaness, near Ballynahinch, seven miles away.
He became disorientated near the hamlet of Annacloy and tried to cut across fields to Drumaness. But he fell victim to the extreme cold weather as temperatures reached a near record low of minus 12 degrees Celsius.
A close relative said: "David had cuts on his face and his body. He must have fallen several times before he died. He simply lost his way in the dark and tried to take a short cut across the fields.
"It was the extreme cold which killed him - hypothermia, as simple as that."
She said David was a "big fit lad" who could easily have made the journey under normal conditions.
He had been to a disco at Dick's Cabin with friends but he left around midnight because he felt unwell. His body was found last Saturday.
His parents are still in deep shock at the loss of their only son.
"It was dreadful waiting day and night for news, especially in weather like this," said the relative.
"But the family are very grateful for the help of all who took part in the search in appalling conditions."
When David failed to return home, his family reported him missing to the RUC. The Mourne Rescue Team, RUC spotter planes and dozens of local people took part in an intensive search.
David's body was discovered curled up in a hollow on a hillside. The area is more than a mile from the road and at the end of a long laneway leading to fields that sweep down to the banks of the Quoile river.