Megan Roberts missing: Police search River Ouse

  • Published
Media caption,

Supt Phil Cain: "We're increasingly concerned for Megan's safety and welfare"

Underwater searches to try to find a missing student will resume later, police have said.

Megan Roberts, 20, from Wetherby, West Yorkshire, disappeared in the early hours of Thursday after a night out at the Popworld nightclub in York.

North Yorkshire Police said she was last seen on CCTV at 02:20 GMT with a group of people near Lendal Bridge, which crosses the River Ouse.

The group was seen a short time later on Museum Street without Miss Roberts.

Image source, North Yorkshire Police
Image caption,

Megan Roberts was last seen at Popworld, in York, on Thursday

Supt Phil Cain said: "We are very concerned for Megan's welfare and are urging the public to help us establish her movements in the early hours of Thursday.

"Her disappearance and the fact she has not had any contact with her family and friends for almost five days now is extremely unlike her.

"Megan's family are understandably very distressed."

He said officers from the regional underwater search unit and specialist search officers had carried out riverbank searches along the River Ouse in York city centre without success on Tuesday but would resume searching on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for York St John University, where Miss Roberts studies fine art, said its "thoughts are with Megan's family and friends at this distressing time".

"The university is doing all it can to assist the police with their inquiries and to support Megan's fellow students," they added.

Image source, PA
Image caption,

Megan Roberts spent the evening at Popworld on George Hudson Street in York

Meanwhile, Ben Bason, from University Radio York, said the broadcaster was doing its bit to help in the search for Miss Roberts.

"We're trying to trigger anyone's memory who might have been out on Wednesday night and might have seen her in York," he said.

Miss Roberts was reported missing on Monday by her mother.

Andrea Barnes, head teacher of Miss Roberts' former school, Wetherby High, said: "She was an excellent student, everybody is very concerned and our thoughts are with her family."

Media caption,

Megan Roberts, 20, from Wetherby, West Yorkshire, disappeared in the early hours of Thursday after a night out at the Popworld nightclub in York.

North Yorkshire Police's appeal to find her has been shared thousands of times on Facebook, external.

Friends have also posted messages on Miss Roberts' Facebook page, urging her to "come home safe".

Anyone who has seen her is asked to contact North Yorkshire Police on 101 or the Missing People, external charity.

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