Police searching for missing teenager find body in canal

DETECTIVES searching for a missing young mother from Rotherham confirmed last night that a woman’s body had been found in a canal.

The body had not been formally identified, but officers said they were keeping 17-year-old Laura Wilson’s family updated about developments.

No cause of death has yet been established and a post-mortem examination is expected to be conducted this morning.

The grim discovery was made in the canal near Steel Street in Rotherham yesterday afternoon after some personal belongings believed to have been owned by Miss Wilson were found in the area.

That breakthrough prompted police to begin a more thorough search using divers and a large tent was put up at the scene.

A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said the death was being treated as suspicious “as a matter of routine”.

Police have confirmed that the body was in the canal, but have not revealed any further details of the circumstances in which it was found.

A 17-year-old youth from the area had been arrested earlier on suspicion of assault as part of the investigation, but police were unable to answer further questions about his status in custody last night.

Last night a string of tributes to mother-of-one Miss Wilson were posted on a Facebook webpage set up to try to find her.

One said: “You shall live in the hearts of those who loved you xx.”

Another wrote: “RIP Laura my thoughts are with your family and friends and specially your little girl. How can something like this happen in our own town.”

Police were called in after Miss Wilson went missing at the weekend. She had last been seen at around 9.30pm on Saturday, close to her home in the Holmes area of Rotherham.

After her disappearance police described her family as “understandably distraught”.