Richard Morris: Body found in search for missing diplomat

Image copyright Foreign & Commonwealth Office

Police searching for a missing British diplomat have found a body in a forest in Hampshire.

Richard Morris, from Bentley, was last seen running in Alton in the county on 6 May.

Hampshire Constabulary said officers had discovered a body in Alice Holt Forest and the death was not being treated as suspicious.

Formal identification has not yet taken place, but the 52-year-old’s family have been notified.

Police previously searched the forest, where Mr Morris was known to enjoy running.

Officers also inspected 2km (1.2 miles) of the River Wey, as well as scouring CCTV footage and carrying out house-to-house inquiries, before their search was scaled back.

Father-of-three Mr Morris, originally from Worcestershire, was the UK ambassador to Nepal for four years until 2019.

Before his disappearance he was appointed British High Commissioner to Fiji.

Mr Morris had also worked as head of the Pacific department at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), consul general in Sydney as well as director general of trade and investment in Australasia.

In a previous statement, the Foreign Office described him as a “much-valued and well-liked colleague”.