Family 'relieved' as little Dylan Cecil's body is found in sea search

The family of missing Dylan Cecil have spoken of their relief after his body was found less than half-a-mile from the jetty where he was swept out to sea.

Relatives broke down in tears after the discovery near Burnham-on-Sea Yacht Club in Somerset at 12.30pm today.

Dylan was dragged beneath the waves after toppling off a slipway in the resort at 6pm on Sunday evening.

Speaking on the seafront just moments after the news emerged, Dylan's granddad David McCollum said he felt an "immeasurable" sense of relief.

Fighting back tears as a group of a dozen relatives wept and hugged, he said: "Words cannot describe the relief I am feeling right now.

"People asked me whether I was sad and I said no. I was sad on Sunday. Now I'm happy. It sounds strange but we just wanted him back."

He continued: "I'm so relieved, I'm no longer in limbo. All I wanted was a body and now I've got that.

"I just wanted to bury him, we can do that now - our sense of relief is immeasurable."

Dylan's mum Rachel McCollum, 27, and father Darren Cecil, 30, have maintained a constant vigil at the beach since he went missing.

She is believed to have left the shoreline to give a police statement when news that a body had been found broke.

The couple leaped into the raging waters to try and save the youngster - but they were hauled out of the sea without finding him.

Speaking on Wednesday, Ms McCollum said: "I'll stay here until he is back. I've stayed here the whole time and only had three hours sleep.

"It still doesn't feel real - we just want him back. I keep thinking what if we leave and he comes back?

"We are heartbroken and absolutely devastated. We just need him back, we don't want him lost any longer.

"We want him home."



Family friend Pete Shipley said: "From what I have heard it was someone with binoculars that saw him.

"It was all over within five minutes. Police and ambulances screamed down here and then left very quickly.

"The last I heard his parents were crossing 't's and dotting 'I's in the police station.

"I'm just relieved he has been found. At last they can put him to rest. Poor little chap, it is likely he was bobbing up and down for days."

After news of the discovery broke members of Dylan's family gathered in the lifeguard hut at the top of Burnham's slipway to hug and comfort one another.

Loud sobs could be heard and the phrase 'they've found him, they've found him'  continuously repeated.

At one point Dylan's grandfather David Cecil removed himself from his family to gaze at the ever-growing memorial to his grandson.

He stood silently looking at the giant picture of Dylan placed in the middle of scores of bunches of flowers on the esplanade wall.

The devastated grandfather paused before dozens of family, friends and well-wishers came to shake his hand and offer their condolences.

A friend of the family, who did not wish to be named, said Rachel had slept for just four hours in the last three days and had eaten her first proper meal on Wednesday.

Mourners also took to social networking sites to register their grief.

One young girl, named only as Bethany, tweeted: "Dylan Cecil has been found - so happy his not out there anymore, he can be put to rest.

Another Twitter user wrote: "Gonna go get some flowers then lay them down for Dylan outside Darren and Rachel's house".

A police spokesman said: "Officers searching for the body of a four-year-old boy who fell into the water at Burnham-on-Sea can confirm that the body of a young boy has been found near to the yacht club in Burnham-on-Sea.

"The body was discovered at about 12.30pm. Formal identification still has to be carried out."