Missing Megan Roberts: Police find body in River Ouse

Megan Roberts was studying fine art at York St John University

A woman's body has been found in a river downstream from where a 20-year-old student went missing almost six weeks ago, police have said.

York St John University student Megan Roberts, from Wetherby, West Yorkshire, disappeared during a night out with friends in the city in January.

It was feared she had fallen into the River Ouse near York's Lendal Bridge.

Miss Roberts' family has been told of the discovery, although the body has not yet been formally identified.

The body was spotted by a member of the public at 15:30 GMT on Sunday near the Ship Inn at Acaster Malbis, a village almost five miles south of York, police said.

'Beautiful daughter'

A fine art student, Miss Roberts vanished on 23 January after an evening out with friends.

She was last seen on CCTV on the corner of Rougier Street and Lendal Bridge at about 02:20.

Police believed the most likely explanation for her disappearance was that she got separated from her friends while under the influence of alcohol and fell into the Ouse near the bridge.

A week later Miss Roberts' mother, Jackie Roberts, said she believed the disappearance of her "beautiful daughter" appeared to be the result of "a tragic run of events with no-one to blame".

Police divers searched the Ouse and officers used sonar equipment to scan the water from Lendal Bridge downstream to Naburn, but with no success.