Body found in hunt for missing diplomat
Discovery in dense forest after four-month search
POLICE searching for a diplomat who disappeared almost four months ago have found a body less than two miles from his home.
Richard Morris, 52, was last seen on the morning of May 6 after leaving his £ 1million detached home in the village of Bentley, near Alton, Hampshire, to go for a run.
Hampshire Constabulary said last night a body had been found in nearby Alice Holt Forest – where Mr Morris took part in park runs.
Police, who are not treating the death as suspicious, had previously spent days combing the dense woodland for any sign of the father of three.
Mr Morris, who had been due to become British High Commissioner to Fiji in July, was the
‘He was such a good human being’
ambassador to Nepal between 2015 and November 2019 and accompanied the Duke of Sussex on a tour of the country in 2016.
Mr Morris took up his post in Nepal six months after the devastating earthquake that hit the country, killing 9,000.
He had previously been head of the Pacific department in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and held senior diplomatic posts in Australia and Mexico.
A spokesman for Hampshire Constabulary said: ‘Officers investigating the disappearance of Richard Morris from Bentley have today found a body in Alice Holt Forest.
‘Formal identification has not yet taken place, but the 52-year-old’s family have been notified. They are being supported by specialist officers. The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.’
Following Mr Morris’s disappearance, police said they had searched 3.5 square miles of land – including Alice Holt Forest and several bodies of water.
They also asked motorists in the area for dashboard camera footage and carried out house-to-house inquiries.
Mr Morris and wife Alison were married in 1992. They have one daughter and two sons. Last night tributes poured in for Mr Morris from around the world.
One person said they were ‘feeling emotional’, adding that it was ‘a sad day for Nepal’.
Another wrote: ‘I am extremely saddened by this news.
‘My thoughts go out to Morris’s family. He was such a good human being, he took Nepal and Britain relations in a new height while serving as an ambassador for Nepal. A great loss for Nepal and Britain both.’
A third said they were ‘shocked and saddened’ by the news.