The girlfriend of York man Peter Critchlow has spoken of how she lost hope when told that a body had been discovered in the River Foss.

Dawn Harrison, 24, Mr Critchlow's partner of two years, said she was still reeling from the news, after a police search unit discovered the 25-year-old civil servant's clothed body in the river, near Foss Bank.

She said: "When I heard that there was a body in the river I feared the worst because the body was close to where Peter disappeared.

"It was the not knowing. But now it doesn't really help that I do know, because we all felt there was a tiny bit of hope. Now there is none at all."

A post-mortem examination failed to identify a cause of death, and further tests, including a toxicology analysis, were being carried out today.

A police spokesman said Mr Critchlow's body was recovered from the river yesterday morning following a call from a passer-by. He added that there were no suspicious circumstances.

A spokeswoman for the York coroner's office said an inquest into Mr Critchlow's death would be opened and adjourned later today or tomorrow.

Mr Critchlow, who lived in Markham Street, The Groves, went missing on Saturday, November 15, after a night out with a female friend.

He was last seen in the early hours of the morning in Heworth Green.

An extensive police search was launched, and search units scoured the River Ouse and River Foss.

Posters were put up in bars and pubs in the city and hundreds of leaflets delivered.

Last week, on the one month anniversary of his disappearance, Peter's parents, John and Norma Critchlow, who live in Northampton, travelled to York to make an emotional appeal for information.

But despite hours of detective work and continued public appeals, there was no sign of Mr Critchlow, an employee at the Government pensions department at Monks Cross.

Dawn, who works for Norwich Union, said the tragic news had come even harder in the week before Christmas.

She said arrangements would now have to be made for a funeral in Northampton or York.

She said: "I know I will feel better with time, but now I am still in shock.

"I think we all knew really because it was so out of character. We knew he couldn't have just taken off."

Updated: 10:42 Wednesday, December 17, 2003