I just heard of this case recently, which had surprised me because I am from Sligo and hadn’t heard the story until now. This is only because I had a very busy life at the time and not because of the publicity given. I’m sure most local people were aware of this event, just not me. If anyone needs clarification of ideas or questions that you may have and would like me to provide any information about the local area, I would be happy to assist.
My 2c worth is that this is a person who was aware that they had a terminal illness and simply wanted to disappear anonymously and without fuss. It’s not completely clear whether he died from drowning because on the documentary about his final days, the doctor states that there were no signs of saltwater drowning (at least external signs). He also offers no explanation of what the cause of death actually was. It’s therefore entirely possible that he succumbed to the illness he was carrying or had another heart attack and may not have really drowned at all.
Another point I would make is that there is no known connection to WB Yeats whatsoever, other than the fact that it happened in Sligo, which is an area associated with Yeats. It would be like artificially connecting a mystery death in Paris to the Eiffel Tower only because that’s what Paris is known for. There is simply no evidence to suggest that the man had any interest in WB Yeats. He did not go to any location in Sligo that is significant with respect to the poet around the town (there are many). I would also add that every major town or city in Ireland, will have some similar touristic selling point due to the countries rich history but in reality, most visitors come to Sligo because it is an area of outstanding natural beauty.
My gut feeling is that he had previously visited the town in the past, perhaps during his student days or as part of a family holiday. He may have remembered the area with fondness and decided that it would be the best location to spend his last moments. There are only a handful of international Airports in Ireland. He may have had a connecting flight via the UK into Derry. If you wanted to fly from continental Europe with your ultimate intended destination being Sligo, Derry is a reasonable choice. Only Knock airport is geographically closer, however he most likely took advantage of a budget airline (Ryanair) offer to Derry which can be very inexpensive even including a connection through the UK. An Irish person (with better local knowledge) would most likely opt to fly to Dublin and bus directly from Dublin airport to Sligo, which is probably a marginally better option. But his choice of Derry is completely logical and does not suggest to me that he was being in any way evasive.
Another observation is that he carried a purple carrier bag when leaving the hotel, but is assumed to have emptied it of personal belongings each day while walking around the town, taking extreme care to evade being recorded by CCTV cameras around the town. This is the reasonable conclusion of the investigating Gardai (Police). However it is based on only the CCTV footage of him leaving with the purple bag and arriving back without it. Because no vendor in Sligo provides purple carrier bags, it is assumed that he has folded it up, put it in his pocket and reused the same bag, which I agree is the most like scenario. The suggestion that he emptied the contents which were his personal belongings into bins while evading cameras though is pure conjecture and is based only on the fact that no CCTV footage was ever found of him emptying the bag’s contents. My own proposal is slightly different and less mysterious:
There are a class of frugally minded individuals, who see take it as their duty to get the maximum value from their hotel stay. My proposal is that the contents of the bag were 2 croissants, a banana, an apple and a carton of juice from the hotel buffet breakfast offering and perhaps optionally the complimentary newspaper. I propose that he took a stroll along the river when it was afternoon, and found one of many benches, ate his free lunch and then kept the purple bag in his pocket because it is opaque and good for concealing contents. There are no CCTV cameras in the scenic area along the Garavogue river close to Doorley Park. It’s a very short walk from his hotel and would be natural instinct to explore the bank of the river which runs through the town and is pedestrianised. The weather is pleasant in June and I can see any tourist would naturally wander along the riverbank which is initially dotted with cafes etc. but soon leads to a scenic area with moored boats, benches, bins and importantly no CCTV. This is again conjecture, but it removes the need for meticulously planning and deliberately avoiding CCTV cameras. Also, a bar of Hotel soap was found on his body on the beach, and he was seen with a newspaper which suggests that he didn’t have any moral inhibitions in fully availing of the hotel’s hospitality.
The man suggested to the Taxi driver that he might go to Strandhill beach to swim. The driver however recommended Rosses Point instead. I would have given the exact same advice if I were the driver, because Strandhill is oficially unsafe for swimming due to large crashing waves and rip currents. Rosses Point has a very gentle gradient and is very sheltered, has little waves and is very safe for swimming. So much so, that I would say it would be very poor choice as a place to commit suicide by drowning, because your instinct would be to save yourself by just standing up, as the water remains shallow for a very long distance out from the shore.
A final point of local knowledge. Sligo is twinned with Crozon in Brittany, France and with Kempten in Bavaria, Germany. Kempten is very close to the Austrian border. If the man was from Kempten in Germany but wanted to give a false address, he would have been familiar enough with Austria to make up an Austrian sounding address. His likely route into Ireland would then be: Munich -> Derry.