Body found in hunt for missing Yorkshire student

A major search was mounted for Duncan Gibbon who vanished around midnight on Saturday in freezing conditions.

He was celebrating a friend's 21st in Newcastle city centre when he got separated from two groups.

The student, from Northallerton, was not reported missing until Sunday as each group believed he was with the other.

A body, which has yet to be identified, was found on an embankment near the High Level Bridge, close to the city's popular Quayside.

Officers have been joined by search specialists from mountain rescue teams to carry out fingertip searches on ropes.

A Northumbria Police spokeswoman said: "Police searching for missing person Duncan Gibbon, aged 21, have discovered the body of a man.

"Identification has yet to be established and police inquiries are ongoing."

Mr Gibbon's parents, Simon and Kate, and younger brother Jake, 19, were desperate for news before the discovery of a body.

His mother said yesterday: "We're very concerned as he doesn't know Newcastle outside of the city centre and the weather is freezing."

The Edinburgh University student attended Stokesley School and was with friends he made there a decade ago when he disappeared.

Before police found a body, she said: "He is a smashing lad and we love him to bits. He's a really fun-loving guy, very friendly and outgoing."