Boater believed drowned

BOATER Mike Doherty, who has been missing since last weekend after an evening drinking, is believed to have drowned.

Mike moored his narrowboat by Hanham Lock where the Kennet & Avon Canal meets the tidal Avon, and was last seen in the Chequers, with some of his belongings found on the river bank, leading the police to believe he tried to get back onto his boat but failed, Alan Tilbury tells us.

Feared he fell in

Police diver teams have been searching the vicinity of Hanham Lock, as it is feared he had fallen into the river and been swept away as it was flowing fast on the night he disappeared.

Fellow boaters have taken their boats out searching the Avon, with the diver teams going into the river twice, but with a high tide the night that Mike disappeared 6ft above norm, the worst is expected.