Police seeking missing grandmother uncover woman’s body on moorland

Pamela Jackson, 55, vanished from her home in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, in March.

Durham Police yesterday confirmed a woman’s body had been found on moors between Halifax and Rochdale but it had yet to be formally identified last night.

Officers working with dogs made the discovery at around 2pm on land off Turvin Road, near Mytholmroyd.

Specialist search teams have been combing the Calderdale moorland for weeks and divers have also carried out underwater searches of Blackstone Edge and Baitings Dam reservoirs.

Ms Jackson, who had four grandchildren, was last seen on March 2 and reported missing by one of her three sons on March 7.

Her bank account and Facebook page have remained untouched and police have admitted there is “no realistic chance” she is alive.

Making an emotional plea for information last month, her sister Deborah Leighton, 51, said: “I just miss her. She needs to come home so we can do the right thing and bury her. We need to give her a proper send-off instead of just wondering where she is.”

Ms Jackson’s partner Adrian Muir, of Calder Terrace, Halifax, has appeared in court charged with her murder. The 50-year-old has yet to formally enter a plea but told magistrates: “I haven’t murdered anybody.”

Muir, who has been remanded in custody, is due back at Newcastle Crown Court on June 11.