A postmortem examination of a body found in the search for missing woman Gaynor Lord has found “no indications of any third-party involvement”, Norfolk police said.
The force said formal identification would take place on Sunday.
The death was not being treated as suspicious, it added.
Ch Supt Dave Buckley, Norfolk’s county policing commander, said: “The postmortem examination has found no signs that any other parties were involved. Although our searches have concluded, officers are continuing to work to establish the full circumstances surrounding Gaynor’s disappearance.
“We will pursue all lines of inquiry to understand why she went missing.”
Earlier this month, Lord, 55 went missing after leaving work in Norwich. Officers previously said there was a “high probability” Lord went into the river at Wensum Park – a number of her belongings were found nearby.
Lord was last seen leaving her job as a retail assistant at the Bullards gin counter at Jarrolds department store more than an hour before her shift was due to end.
She had been due to finish work at 4pm but left via a loading bay at 2.45pm, and was reported missing when she failed to return home that evening. CCTV footage showed her leaving work, hurrying through the city centre and visiting the nearby cathedral grounds before making her way towards a park.
A member of the public found a number of Lord’s belongings, including clothing, a mobile phone, glasses and jewellery, scattered through Wensum Park on Friday evening. Her olive-coloured coat was found in the river that runs through the park, and officers were able to identify Lord’s belongings via an ID badge found in her handbag.
On Friday, a body was found in the search for Lord. A pair of divers could be seen recovering a body from the River Wensum at about midday, nearly a week after she was reported missing.
The area, marked with an orange buoy, was about 100 metres downstream from where the search had been focused the day before.
Officers previously said Lord’s behaviour was “out of character” and they had been unable to establish why she left work early.
A friend of Lord, Julie Butcher, said Lord was “upbeat and happy” and talking about Christmas just days before she disappeared. She told the BBC she had briefly spoken to her friend at 2.15pm last Friday but had to cut the call short to speak to a client, and had called her back but received no answer.
She said she received another call from Lord at 4.15pm but it “sounded like a pocket call – I could hear movement in her pocket”.
2023-12-16 12:03:56
Source from www.theguardian.com
