A body has been found in the search for a student who vanished while walking to a pub two weeks ago.
Tom Dingle, 19, was last seen heading towards the Boathouse Pub in Lancashire on December 19.
On Christmas Day, a body was discovered by someone walking through the woodland. Formal identification is yet to take place, but police said they believe the body is that of Tom.
Tom, from Appley Bridge, Lancashire, was last seen on CCTV heading towards the pub in Dalton.
Lancashire Police said: ‘Our thoughts are very much with them at this extremely distressing time.
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‘We would ask that their privacy is respected as they come to terms with this devastating news.
‘This is not the outcome anybody wanted. We wanted to take this opportunity to thank everybody who shared our appeals for information.’
His death is not being treated as suspicious, and a file will be passed to the coroner.
Tom, a student at Lancaster University, was said to be in a ‘vulnerable state of mind’ before he disappeared.
His mum, Susan, previously told a press conference: ‘We just want him home as soon as possible. We’ve even put a note on the front door so he knows he can just walk in.
‘We’re just here to love and protect him, that’s all. Tom is in a vulnerable state of mind following a traumatic event. He is grieving very much.
‘My husband Peter and I, and Tom’s older brother, are going out of our minds with worry that something may have happened to him.
‘We just want our baby back, that’s all.’
On December 18, a body was pulled out of a river almost a month after a robotics student went missing in Leicestershire.
Aryan Sharma, 20, was last captured on CCTV running through Loughborough on the night of Saturday, November 22.
This was the last time the robotics student was seen, dressed in a dark coat as he sprinted on the pavement along Meadow Lane.
A major search was launched to try to locate the young man who was last spotted at about 12.30am on the day he vanished.
On Sunday evening, the emergency services were alerted after reports of a body in the River Soar.
A body was pulled out of the water by the tactical support team and the police air service officers.
While a formal identification has not taken place yet, it is believed to be Aryan.
His family are being supported by specialist officers, Leicestershire Police said.
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