Police searching for missing student recover body from river

POLICE hunting for a student missing after a night out in Leeds yesterday recovered the body of a man from a river.

Matthew Wilcox, 19, a geography student at Leeds University, had not been seen since the early hours of last Friday when he left the Mission nightclub.

Yesterday afternoon police recovered the body of a man from the River Aire, near Asda House.

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A spokeswoman for West Yorkshire Police said formal identification had not yet taken place and it was too soon to say whether the body was that of Mr Wilcox.

Members of Mr Wilcox's family reported him missing when he failed to attend a charity event at his home in the Wickersley area of Rotherham.

Police searched the area around the Mission nightclub, off Lower Briggate, following his disappearance, checking CCTV images, and the underwater search team was brought in to search the River Aire.

Yesterday, at a police press conference in Bradford, the family of another missing man from West Yorkshire appealed for help tracing him.

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David Rowling, 48, an IT consultant, walked out of his home on Alma Street, Queensbury, last Saturday and simply vanished.

Searches have been carried out around the Queensbury area and the police helicopter has been used to search Ogden reservoir and Ogden moor – an area Mr Rowling is known to like.

Speaking at a Press conference, one of his sisters, Brenda Rowling, said: "David, if you're out there, we just want you to contact one of us or anybody and just let us know you're safe."

Det Insp Steve Snow of Bradford South CID said: "David is a very private man and has been leading a normal family life with his wife and young son. His family and friends desperately want to know where he is."

Mr Rowling is described as white, 5ft 8ins, of slim build with short grey hair.

Det Insp Snow can be contacted at 0845 60 60 606.