Didcot Power Station: Guard of honour for recovered body

A guard of honour has been provided for a body discovered in the ruins of the collapsed Didcot Power Station.

Three men - Ken Cresswell, 57, and John Shaw, 61, from Rotherham, and Chris Huxtable, 34, from Swansea - have been missing since the collapse in February.

Emergency services and workers who have searched for the bodies formed the guard of honour as the body was driven from the site at 02:30 BST.

The body has not been identified but all three families were in attendance.

Thames Valley Police said formal identification of the body found on Wednesday had not yet taken place.

Oxfordshire Live: Didcot body recovered

The body of Michael Collings, 53, from Brotton, Teesside, was previously recovered from the site.

The building was due for demolition when it partially collapsed in February. The remaining section was brought down using explosives in July.

Three men have been missing since 23 February

Sarah Champion, the MP for Rotherham, where two of the families are based, said: "It's a great relief that someone has been found, but the families have been waiting now for just over six months.

"If you start thinking about the implications of that, it means they can't have a funeral for their loved ones, they can't grieve, they can't go away, and every time the phone rings they've been wondering if it's the call that their husband has been found."

Ed Vaizey, MP for Didcot and Wantage, called it a "terrible saga".

"The news that one body has been found is very sad but at the same time there is a sense of relief because the families can't get closure... and the wait must have been absolutely agonising for them."

About Didcot A Power Station

Three of Didcot A Power Station's cooling towers pictured in 2007

Oxfordshire's coal-fired Didcot A Power Station was turned off in 2013, after 43 years in service.

The site was able to generate 2,000 MW of electricity - enough to meet the needs of two million households - owners RWE Npower said.

The station included six cooling towers, measuring 375ft (114m) in height, which dominated the skyline of the town.

Hundreds of people gathered to watch when three of the towers were demolished in the early hours of 27 July 2014.

RWE Npower expected complete deconstruction of the site by the end of this year before the boiler house collapse in February took place.

A gas-burning power station - known as Didcot B - opened in 1997 on the site and continues to operate.