THE body of an unidentified man has today (Wednesday, May 8) been recovered from the River Wear.

Initially, news of the body prompted speculation it could be that of missing Chester-le-Street grandmother Pamela Jackson who is believed to have been murdered.

Police were alerted at 1.45pm by a member of the public walking in Riverside Park, Chester-le-Street, who spotted the body - found to be that of a middle-aged man.

The death is not being treated as suspicious.

Detective Inspector Gavin Heckles said: “Until a post mortem has taken place we do not have a formal cause of death."

It is not known how long the man had been in the water.

Police are now trying to trace his next of kin so the body can be formally identified.

An inquest into the death is likely to be held in due course.

Earlier this year, police carried out extensive searches of the river and nearby countryside for 55-year-old Pamela Jackson, who has not been seen since she went missing from her home in early March.

Unemployed Ms Jackson, the mother of three grown-up children and the grandmother of four, is believed to be dead but her body has not yet been found.

Her partner Adrian Muir, 50, a dry-stone waller from Halifax, West Yorkshire, is currently being held on remand awaiting trial for her murder.

The search for her body is now concentrated on the Pennines area. Efforts there were hampered by heavy snowfall earlier this year but Durham and West Yorkshire officers are now jointly combing moorland in Lancashire and West Yorkshire.

It is thought that the search could continue for several weeks.

Ms Jackson’s family recently issued an emotional appeal for the public’s help in finding her body.

They say that they cannot properly grieve for her until she is “brought home” and a funeral service is held.