MISSING MIDWIFE:
Murder probe as body found
POLICE searching for missing midwife Samantha Eastwood have found a body and launched a murder investigation.
Yesterday up to 100 officers with sniffer dogs combed the remote quarry and surrounding rural land near where she vanished eight days ago.
A 32-year-old man who had previously been arrested by Staffordshire Police in connection with the disappearance was rearrested on suspicion of murder.
Two other men, aged 28 and 60, were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.
Last night the body had yet to be formally identified and forensic teams remained at the scene near Caverswall, Staffs, which is 10 miles from Stoke-on-Trent.
Samantha, 28, was last seen in uniform leaving work at Royal Stoke Hospital at 7.45am eight days earlier on Friday July 27.
Police were searching the area after a tip-off that the midwife was taken to the rural area in a vehicle on Friday night.
The manner of the search sparked concerns amongst locals that police were searching for a dead body. Local farmer Nigel Potts, 53, said: “There is a huge police activity down there, it is very disturbing and I keep thinking this can’t be real.”
He added that officers asked to view footage from his CCTV camera on the night the midwife disappeared.
He added: “It’s a very rural and remote area and I have CCTV but it didn’t go back to that day unfortunately.”
Police last night also called for witness information on “suspicious” activity including vehicles parked in rural laybys.
Samantha’s colleagues raised concerns at 7.20pm on the 27th after she failed to show up for her next shift.
The force said that neighbours reported hearing a scream in the vicinity of Samantha’s house at about 2pm that day. Police previously searched an empty house belonging to the grandmother of a member of Samantha’s ex’s extended family. Samantha split with fiance John Peake, 34, in January and cancelled their wedding, which had been due to take place two months ago. It also emerged police were outside a property belonging to John Peake’s sister Katie Stirling and her husband Michael, both 32, since Sunday. Det Supt Simon Duffy said: “The discovery today is not what anyone wanted, and this is now a homicide investigation.” Colleagues paid tribute to Samantha, with Chief Nurse Liz Rix writing on Twitter: “Sam will be deeply missed and our thoughts are with her family and friends during this time.
“Sam, who had worked as a midwife at Royal Stoke for six years, was a much loved and valued member of the maternity service.” Liz also thanked Staffordshire Police for their work on the case.