A body has been found in the search for Gaynor Lord, the 55-year-old woman who went missing after leaving work in Norwich last Friday afternoon, Norfolk police have said.
Although the body has not been formally identified, Lord’s family have been informed, the force added.
A pair of divers could be seen recovering a body from the River Wensum at about midday on Friday, 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 there was a “high probability” Lord went into the river at Wensum Park near to where a number of her belongings were found, adding there was no evidence of third party involvement.
Norfolk police said: “Police searching for missing Norwich woman Gaynor Lord can confirm a body has been found in the River Wensum. The body was found in the river by underwater search teams this morning and has now been recovered from the water.
“While the body hasn’t formally been identified, Gaynor’s family have been informed. They continue to be supported by specially trained officers.”
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 last Friday.
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.
Speaking to the media on Friday afternoon, Ch Supt Dave Buckley said police were satisfied that Lord did not meet anyone on her way to the park and reiterated that police inquiries had found no evidence of third-party involvement.
“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,” he said. “I’m keen to say this remains a missing person inquiry at this stage.”
Buckley added that a postmortem examination would be carried out to establish the cause of death.
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 she 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”.
Police previously said their search of the river was difficult due to debris and low visibility. “The divers can see about 1ft in front of them,” Buckley said. “It’s an extraordinarily challenging environment for them to work in, so it’s slow, methodical.”
Though no witnesses had reported seeing Lord enter the water, police said there was a “high probability” she had done so.
“We can’t explain some of her behaviour that day,” Buckley said. “We’re working really closely with family, with friends, with anybody else who might have had contact with her in the recent days or weeks to try to understand why this might have happened.”
