A BODY was discovered in a canal near Burn, Selby, by an off-duty police officer, and police are now treating the circumstances as 'suspicious'.

A press conference is being held at 11am this morning and a video report will follow on this site later today.

The grim discovery was reported at 12.45pm yesterday and North Yorkshire Police sent officers and Scenes of Crime investigators to the scene, close to Burn Bridge.

A North Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: “Investigations are continuing. At this early stage we are unable to confirm if the body is male or female.”

Police have been searching the River Ouse this week without success looking for any sign of Lisette Dugmore, the York woman missing since July last year.

Police cordoned off the local beauty spot after the body was found in Selby Canal, which does connect with the Ouse.

The unidentified body was spotted by an off-duty West Yorkshire police officer beside a fisherman’s wooden duckboard below Burn Bridge, on the A19 near Selby bypass and opposite the former Anchor Inn, near Burn.

The area is popular with anglers, joggers and dog walkers, all of whom were turned away while the incident was being investigated.

A small crowd of onlookers formed as a number of officers in three police vans secured the area.

Police on the scene refused to comment, but a detective superintendent from York was due on site late yesterday to determine whether it was a crime scene.

Selby Canal is a busy waterway for narrow boats and all canal traffic was stopped right at the start of the boating weekend while investigations were carried out.

The family of Lisette, of Clifton, were told to prepare for the worst, as divers from West Yorkshire Police this week searched the length of the Ouse from Clifton Bridge as it flows through the city to the Humber.