Body found after frantic night hunt (From Penarth Times)

Body found after frantic night hunt

THE BODY of a local elderly woman has been found washed up at Lavernock Point.

Police, the coastguard and Penarth Lifeboat launched a frantic search in the early hours of Monday morning after the discovery of a handbag under Penarth Pier belonging to a woman reported missing on Sunday evening.

Residents reported the police helicopter flying for around two hours, while lifeboatmen Stuart Jones, Carl Lawrence and Spencer Gray searched the coastline either side of the pier.

The search was postponed until daylight, and at 9.10am, the woman's body was found on the beach at Lavernock Point by a passer by.

The woman's family has requested that her identity is not revealed.

A South Wales Police spokesman said: "The body found on the beach is that of the woman reported missing. This is a non-suspicious death. We will carry out an investigation for the coroner and it's up to him to decide what the cause of death was."

A spokesman for Swansea Coastguard said: "It's distressing for our guys covering the area when life is lost."