Police searching for a missing 22-year-old man who went missing after a night out in Yarm, Teesside, have found a body.
Luke Jobson was last seen near to Yarm school at about 2.15am on Saturday and officers assisted by a police helicopter had been scouring the area around the town for any sign of him.
“Police searching for missing 22-year-old Luke Jobson have sadly found a body in the river at Yarm this afternoon,” Cleveland police said on Monday.
“Although formal identification has yet to take place, Luke’s family has been notified and they are being kept updated while they receive support from specially trained officers.”
Earlier on Monday, police said two teenagers, aged 16 and 18, had come forward in relation to the missing person’s inquiry and would be interviewed in due course. A number of comments on social media said Jobson had been chased prior to his disappearance, but Cleveland police stressed they were prioritising finding him rather than “commentary, various rumours and speculation on social media”.
In a Facebook post on Sunday shared more than 60,000 times, Jobson’s aunt Kelly Jobson appealed for help in locating him. “He wouldn’t hurt a fly, he is [a] popular, happy calm lad that needs to be found ASAP,” she wrote, urging anyone who had any information to speak up.
After the police released the statement about discovery of the body, she pleaded with people to continue searching. She wrote: “It is not confirmed [the] body found is Luke, please I beg you, look for anything unusual around Preston Park River.”
Police had sought to deter friends and family from taking part in public searches for Jobson while specially trained police search teams were in the area. They said that members of the public would be unable to access the Yarm school grounds as they are private property.
