9:40am Thursday 11th March 2010
By Mike Laycock
THE devastated family and friends of teenager Jonathan Havron are in mourning today after police recovered his body from the River Foss in York.
An angler discovered the body of the missing 18-year-old from Huntington while fishing in the river just below the weir at Castle Mills Bridge yesterday morning. The angler contacted police, who sealed off the area and called in an underwater search unit to remove the body from the water.
Police said there were no suspicious circumstances, but they were still trying to establish how Bishop Burton College student Jonathan came to be in the river.
Jonathan’s mother, Joanne Wigmore, last night thanked everyone who had helped in the search for her son and supported her through such a difficult time.
“It’s really appreciated,” she said.
Jonathan’s sister Nikita said on the Facebook website: “Missing Jonny Havron: We would like to thank everyone for their help and support. We will let you all know when the funeral has been arranged. RIP Jonny, we love you xx.”
On the fisherman, she said: “We don’t know who he is, but we would like to thank him for giving us Jonathan back.”
Mrs Wigmore and her family had mounted a massive publicity campaign over the past week in a bid to discover what happened to Jonathan, who disappeared in the early hours of Saturday, February 27, following a night out in the city centre.
He was last seen leaving The Lowther pub at about 1.30am.
The family had been planning to hand out “missing” leaflets to York City Knights fans before last night's game at Huntington Stadium, but called this off following the river discovery.
Terry Smith, who knew Jonathan and helped the family hand out leaflets, said Joanne had been devastated and heartbroken by the news.
“It’s so tragic this has happened,” he said.
“It’s very sad for someone to die so young in the prime of their life.”
He said Mrs Wigmore had not been involved in identifying the body. He said: “She wanted to remember him as he was, the beautiful, bright young son she had brought up.”
The fisherman who found the body declined to comment to The Press, but a fellow angler said he had been badly shaken by the discovery.
Martin Dales, spokesman for Peter Lawrence, whose York daughter Claudia has been missing since last March, said Peter had heard about the discovery of the body yesterday and for some hours had been aware of the possibility it might be his daughter.
Mr Dales said: “His reaction is one of sorrow for the family, and his prayers and thoughts are with them.”
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