POLICE divers have recovered the body of a 26-year-old man from the River Ouse.

The man has been named by North Yorkshire Police as Paul Alan Rogerson, from Morecambe in Lancashire.

Emergency service crews had searched the river following reports of a man falling from a bridge into the water in the early hours of Saturday.

North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue were contacted by North Yorkshire Police to search the river at about 2am on Saturday, after the 26-year-old man apparently fell from the Ouse Bridge.

A spokesman for the police said the man was seen slipping off the bridge into the water, but he was not found during initial searches.

The West Yorkshire Police helicopter also assisted in the searches, before the body was found at about 9.45am and recovered just after 10.30am.

• On Friday, members of the public reported seeing several men swimming from one side of the Ouse to the other, close to Ouse Bridge.

A police spokesman said: “Swimming in any stretch of open water is both reckless and foolish, as it is impossible to tell the temperature of the water and this will inevitably catch you out.”

It is not suggested that Mr Rogerson was part of this group.