Nathan Wood: Tributes paid after body found in river

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Nathan Wood
Image caption,

Nathan Wood was last seen on Friday evening

Tributes have been paid to missing teenager Nathan Wood after a body was found in a river in Devon.

Divers made the discovery on Sunday near the River Dart in Totnes, where the 16-year-old was last seen.

Devon and Cornwall Police said it was possible he had fallen into the river after taking a "new pyschoactive substance" (NPS).

Nathan's mother has warned against taking so-called legal highs, describing them as "horrendous".

The body has not been formally identified, but Nathan's family has been informed.

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His mother Mandi Retter said his death had "screwed up our lives forever".

"It's almost like you want other families to feel that pain for a split second," she said.

Image caption,

Search teams began searching for Nathan Wood on Friday night

NPS - formerly "legal highs" - are synthetic versions of drugs such as amphetamines and cannabis designed to mimic their effects.

Ms Retter said they should be "avoided like the plague".

"I remember having a conversation with [Nathan] a year-and-a-half-ago and he said that you can walk up to anyone in Totnes and get anything," she said.

Image caption,

Nathan's friends have laid flowers at the banks of the River Dart where Nathan was last seen

Nathan's friends described him as a "funny, down-to-earth" guy with a "bright future" ahead of him.

Euan Johnson, 16, said he had known Nathan for "pretty much my whole life" and his death showed "how quickly someone's life can just be taken".

"I think he wanted to become an engineer... he was really clever."

Image caption,

Deep water divers joined in the search of the River Dart on Sunday

Police said the teenager, from the Paignton area, had been out with a group of friends on Friday night. It is thought he went into the water at about 18:30 BST.

Nathan's friends confirmed to officers the teenager had taken a drug on the night he went missing.

Acting Sgt Kevin Rowe said there was a "possibility he may have taken some sort of [formerly] legal high which has had an adverse effect on his behaviour and caused him to behave quite irrationally".

Image caption,

Dartmoor Search and Rescue joined the effort to find the missing teenager

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