Police have found a body in the search for the award-winning poet Gboyega Odubanjo, who has been missing since the weekend.
Odubanjo, 27, was last seen at about 4am on Saturday in the Kelmarsh area of Northamptonshire where he was attending the Shambala festival. He had been due to perform later that day.
Officers searching the area found a body shortly before 9am on Thursday, Northamptonshire police said.
In a statement the force said formal identification had not taken place but Odubanjo’s family had been informed and were being supported by specially trained officers.
The police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.
The search for Odubanjo involved police search dogs, specially trained police search adviser officers, neighbourhood and response police officers, a police dive team, and volunteers from Northamptonshire search and rescue.
A rising talent on the UK poetry scene, Odubanjo’s work includes a pamphlet, Aunty Uncle Poems, which won the Poetry Business New Poets prize in 2020. He also received an Eric Gregory award from the Society of Authors and a Michael Marks pamphlet award.
From Bromley, south London, the Hertfordshire University PhD student’s poem, Oil Music, featured as a Guardian poem of the month in 2021.
His forthcoming collection, Adam, explores structural inequality when it comes to searching for missing Black people in the UK. The collection is inspired by the unsolved murder of “Adam”, an unidentified boy whose body was found in the River Thames in 2001.
DCI Johnny Campbell said: “Our thoughts are with the man’s family at this very difficult time, and we would ask the media and members of the public to not contact them and respect their privacy.”
He thanked those who helped with the search, including Northamptonshire search and rescue volunteers, search-trained officers from other forces, and people who provided information.
A police file would be prepared for the coroner, he said.
