A FIVE-day search for a missing man has been suspended after a body was discovered in a river.

Callum Brown, 21, from Wivenhoe, had been missing since Saturday after a night out in Colchester.

A full scale search for him was launched including by Essex Police.

However, it was suspended after a body was found in water near to lower Castle Park, in Colchester, at about 11.20am yesterday morning.

It was spotted by a member of the public leading police to cordon off an area of the park close to Colchester Leisure World.

A police spokesman said the death was not being treated as suspicious.

The East of England Ambulance Service sent a number of ambulances and rapid response vehicles to the scene.

Formal identification of the body is yet to take place but Callum’s family has been informed.

Gazette:

The search was triggered after Callum did not return home after a night out.

He had been in the popular nightspot Qube on Frid a y.

Police had appealed for information to find him and Callum’s family and friends called for the help of those on social media.

They thanked the public for their support as more than 8,000 people had shared his story.

Callum’s cousin and uncle had also posted pleas to help find him.

Before the body had been discovered yesterday, Callum’s dad, Colin Brown, spoken of his son describing him as being a level- headed man who was much- loved.

Colin lives in Canada and Callum went out to visit him for a couple of weeks once or twice a year. He was meant to fly out to see his dad next month.

Colin said before the discovery: “Callum is not the type of lad to just disappear and he is not the type of lad who would just walk off.

“He is level-headed, he had arranged to go to a concert on the Saturday with his friends but never turned up to meet them.“

Callum lived at home in Wivenhoe with his mum and stepdad.

He worked for Anglian Water as an environmental technician. The company had circulated his picture to help find him.

Much of Callum’s work was based in Colchester.

His dad said his son spent most of his spare time with his school friends or enjoying music.

He said: “He is quite shy, he only ever goes out with his friends from Southminster who he went to school with. Music is his thing, he likes rock music.”

His family and friends from Ormiston Rivers Academy in Southminster were desperate to find him and were devastated to hear the update from police yesterday. Colin had said beforehand: “There are hundreds of people who want to look for him.

“There are people over here in Canada who want to fly out and look for him.

“There are so many people that care about him, he is loved by everybody.

“I don’t know anybody that has a bad word to say about him.”

He said CCTV from the nightclub had shown Callum walking in the direction of Castle Park.

This was opposed to his usual route home through the University of Essex campus.

Colin said his son was last seen on cameras looking happy, chatting and dancing with his friends.

He added he was a sensible man who had never acted irresponsibly or wandered far from home.

Family members had handed out missing posters on Tuesday night hours before the body was found.

On Facebook Callum’s old neighbours had described him as a “lovely lad”.