Leah Bedford: Police find body of missing 16-year-old girl in River Ouse in York

Leah Bedford, 16, from the Acomb area of the city, had not been seen since September 20 when she had been with her friends. She was caught on CCTV near Lendal Bridge on the same day, and her mobile phone was later recovered from the river.

North Yorkshire Police said: “ Officers carrying out searches of the River Ouse in York recovered a body from the river in the Terry Avenue area at around 1pm on Thursday 28 September. Although formal identification has yet to be carried out, Leah’s next of kin have been informed. Pending the results of a postmortem, a report will be prepared for the coroner to inform a future inquest.”

Underwater searches began on September 25, after the recovery of the phone, and involved a regional marine unit.