The body of a 32-year-old man who went missing last month has been found in a north London canal, police have said.
While formal identification is due to take place at a later date, police believe the man to be Nathan Cole and have informed his family, who are being supported by specialist officers.
Police said they pulled an unresponsive man, who was declared dead at the scene, out of the canal near Tottenham Marshes at 8.20am on Friday.
Cole, who was from Notting Hill, was last seen on 21 January walking in Walthamstow, north London, at about 11.20pm. Officers believe he had planned to attend a gig in Camden that evening but may have decided to visit friends instead, and previously said they were concerned “he may have come to harm”.
A statement from the Metropolitan police said: “Officers were called at 0818hrs on Friday 17 February to reports of an unresponsive man in the canal near Towpath Road, N18. Officers, the London ambulance service, and the London fire brigade attended and the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Formal identification will take place in due course, but officers believe that the man is Nathan Cole. “We await the results of the specialist postmortem examination to establish the cause of death. Nathan’s family have been notified and are being supported by specialist officers. We ask media to respect his family’s privacy at this time.”
Specialist search officers and divers had searched the Banbury Reservoir area, including the Wild Marshes, River Lea, Pymmes Brook, the canal and reservoirs. Officers had also reviewed hours’ worth of CCTV in the hope of gaining evidence pointing to Cole’s location.
The BBC had previously filmed a reconstruction of Cole’s last known movements. His sister Hannah told the broadcaster: “It’s completely heartbreaking not knowing whether he’s alive and whether he’s going to walk through the door or we’re going to get that phone call that police have found something. Being in that limbo is very painful for the family.”
In a previous statement, DI Fiona Van Kampen of the Met had said: “Nathan is a young man who appears to have vanished without a trace. Someone, somewhere must know what happened to him. He is very close to his parents and siblings and we have been working closely together with Nathan’s family, who have been invaluable in progressing the investigation.”
