Gaynor Lord live updates: Body found in search for missing woman

Floral tributes have started to be laid near the gates of Wensum Park in Norwich, with three bunches left by 3pm on Friday, after police pulled a body from the river earlier in the day. One of them said: “May you be at peace. God bless your family.”

Chief Superintendent Dave Buckley confirmed to reporters that the body of a female had been found in the River Wensum, but her identity still needed to be established.

He said specialist Family Liaison Officers were supporting Gaynor Lord’s family, and a post-mortem examination would need to be completed on the body to establish means of death.

Chief Superintendent Buckley added Norfolk Constabulary’s ongoing investigations were “predominantly focused on the river and the park”.

Police have said there is no evidence of third party involvement after the body of a female was found in the River Wensum during the search for mother-of-three Gaynor Lord.

Chief Superintendent Dave Buckley told reporters: “We remain open-minded to the circumstances of Gaynor’s disappearance, and we’ll continue to pursue all lines of inquiry to ascertain why she went missing.

“I’m keen to say this remains a missing person inquiry at this stage.

“I am also satisfied at the moment, based on the evidence that we have, that Gaynor did not meet anyone on the way to the park, and we now have a better understanding of her movements through the city centre.”

The officer added: “I would reiterate at this stage that there is no evidence of third party involvement. Nothing in our inquiries have changed this position.”

Specialist divers searching for missing mother-of-three Gaynor Lord have found a body in the River Wensum, Norfolk Police said.

A police dive team assisting the search for mother-of-three Gaynor Lord has carried out checks at a specific part of the River Wensum in Norwich and an orange buoy has been placed on the spot.

An Environment Agency search boat was stationed next to the buoy on Friday morning as a dive team truck arrived at the area just after 11am.

Two members of the dive team could be seen surveying the area, appearing to check if the water was safe to enter.

The buoy was positioned around 100 metres down stream from where the main focus of Thursday’s search for Ms Lord had taken place.

Police divers with flippers could be seen ready to enter the water in a park area further along the river but after a phone call was received, their kit was packed up and personnel got back in their truck and rediverted.

Chief Superintendent Dave Buckley of Norfolk Police said officers had not been able to establish missing Gaynor Lord’s state of mind with “any degree of confidence”.

“There’s nothing we’ve been able to establish that really gives us a clear position on her state of mind that I would feel any degree of confidence of saying what we think it is at the moment,” he said.

“We continue to talk to friends, family, anybody who can help us that we know she’s had contact with.

“We have got hold of her mobile device, we will work our way through that systematically… and see if we can find out more accurately why we’ve ended up where we have.

“It would be really premature I think if I offered too much suggestion as to what I think has happened.”

The items found in a Norwich park were identified as belonging to missing mother-of-three Gaynor Lord by an ID in her handbag, police in Norfolk said.

Teams including Norfolk Constabulary’s Marine Unit, Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service, Coastguard and Norfolk Lowland Search and Rescue have been searching both the surface and under the water of the River Wensum since Friday.

The force has also received 30 calls from members of the public offering information.

Chief Superintendent Dave Buckley said: “Our approach has been to conduct thorough and systematic searches of the area. This resulted in further items belonging to Gaynor being found over the weekend, her mobile phone, coat, ring, and glasses.

“We’ve received 15 calls so far in response to our appeal yesterday and we’re grateful for the public’s help. While this information is still being assessed, currently there is nothing of significance that changes our approach.

“This remains a missing person investigation and every effort continues to find Gaynor, including tracing her final movements in the city centre.”

Specialist divers are working in an “extraordinarily challenging environment” and it will take “a couple of days” or longer to complete the search of the stretch of the River Wensum where Gaynor Lord is thought to have entered the water, police said.

Officers have appealed for witnesses to the 55-year-old’s disappearance after she left work early in Norwich city centre on Friday 8 December.

Speaking to media at Wensum Park in Norwich, Chief Superintendent Dave Buckley said: “We’re putting sonar equipment across the river, which is quite detailed in allowing us to try and target divers to where we think there might be objects.

“But equally, it’s very, very challenging. The river is very, very full of water with all the rain, full of lots of debris. The divers can see about one foot in front of them.

“So it’s an extraordinarily challenging environment for them to work in so it’s slow, methodical at the moment, working with equipment and it will take probably a couple of days to get to a position where we’re kind of content with what we’ve done. It may even be longer.”

The search to find a missing mother-of-three continues a week after her disappearance.

Gaynor Lord, 55, went missing on Friday, December 8 after she left work from Jarrolds department store in the city centre at 2.45pm, earlier than her shift was supposed to finish.

Read the full report published by our local news partner the Eastern Daily Press on Friday morning here

The most recent police statement - on Thursday afternoon - saw Chief Superintendent Dave Buckley of Norfolk Police say that officers had “some indications” of why Lord left the department store where she worked early.

“We’ve got some indications as to why she behaved the way in which she did but what we’re doing is we’re just working backwards now to actually truly understand what may have taken place,” he said.

“We’re just cautious of everything we know at the moment because clearly we’ve ended up in the situation we have which is not usual.

“I don’t think any of the conversations we’ve had are completely informing us as to why her state of mind ended up being what it was.”

He was asked if there were any marks on the grass by the river to indicate someone had gone in there, and replied “no there wasn’t”.

Asked if officers were considering anything about her medical history, he said: “We would always consider it but there’s nothing that changes our approach at the moment.”

A former police detective has said police looking for Gaynor Lord likely have more information than they are making public.

“I am absolutely confident that the police know an awful lot more Gaynor than they are telling us,” Peter Bleksley told LBC.

A friend of Lord, Julie Butcher, has talked about her final interactions with the missing woman.

Julie Butcher said her friend seemed “fine” when they last met on Tuesday last week.

“We were talking. She was a bit busy but we were talking about Christmas and she seemed fine, no different to the usual Gaynor. She was quite upbeat and happy,” Ms Butcher told the BBC.

Ms Butcher told the broadcaster she spoke to her friend at 2.15pm on Friday last week but she had to cut the call short to speak to a client.

“I said I would call her back and she said ‘yes’,” Ms Butcher said.

Ms Butcher said she returned the call but could not get through. She also sent a message to tell her friend she was free.

“I think she was still at work when she called me, I don’t know but maybe that’s why she couldn’t answer,” she said.

“I keep going over the conversation. If I hadn’t answered that call would she have talked to me? I feel terrible. I feel so sorry for the family.”

Ms Butcher said she received another call form Ms Lord at 4.15pm but it “sounded like a pocket call – I could hear movement in her pocket”.