Police today said that divers had found the body of a man in a white van they were trying to find as they searched for missing former MP Darius Tucker.

The grim discovery was made in the waters off Marginal Wharf after police received a call from a member of the public.

Assistant Commissioner Antoine Daniels said: “At 8.40am we received a 911 call of a potential sighting of a van. We called out the marine police unit who came down with two divers.

“They dove under and unfortunately and tragically they located the white van we have been looking for with an individual inside.”

Mr Daniels said police were now carrying out a forensic examination of the van, which was found by Marginal Wharf, in St David’s.

He did not confirm that the person found was Mr Tucker but said: “I had a difficult conversation with the family and my sincere condolences go to the family.

“I don’t want to say too much because obviously that family has to speak to the wider family members.

“It’s a tragic ending.

“We have missing persons weekly and we have to have a proportionate response because everybody has a right to life.

“As police we always step up our responses when we find that things are suspicious.

Mr Daniels said that there was no indication of foul play, but added: “However, it’s early in the investigation and we’re doing some forensic examination now before we extract the body and extract the van from the water.”

He said that CCTV cameras had helped narrow down the location of the area to search, with teams focusing on Marginal Wharf yesterday, although the missing vehicle was not found until this morning.

He said. “They tracked and saw the van coming into the St David’s area so CCTV was a big assistance.

“We have been searching quite widely in this particular area. Sometimes you can’t see these things, you miss these things.

“I don’t think this is the time to really blame anyone. This is the time for us all to pull together and support the family. Then we’ll have time to look at how we can do things better in the future.”