The body of a man discovered in Australian bushland has been formally identified as that of missing Briton Gary Tweddle, police said.
The 23-year-old, who was originally from Reading, vanished nearly seven weeks ago after a work dinner during a conference in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.
Mr Tweddle, a computer salesman, had emigrated to Australia with his family and was last heard from when he rang colleagues also staying at the Fairmont Resort in Leura in the early hours of July 16 to say he was lost.
Today, New South Wales police confirmed the body had been identified as Mr Tweddle’s.
A force statement said: “The body of a man recovered from a cliff face at Leura in the Blue Mountains yesterday has been identified as being that of missing man Gary Tweddle.
“Gary Tweddle, aged 23, went missing from the Fairmont Resort at Leura in the early hours of Tuesday 16 July 2013.
“Over the last seven weeks police from Blue Mountains local area command conducted extensive searches for Mr Tweddle but were unable to locate him.
“On Monday 2 September 2013, an ambulance helicopter was flying over the area during a training exercise when the crew spotted a body on the cliff face, near Sublime Point, Leura.
“Yesterday morning, officers from Blue Mountains Police Rescue Squad and the Police Airwing (Polair) commenced an operation to recover the body.
“The operation took eight hours with the man’s body being recovered about 4:15pm. A post mortem examination was conducted earlier today with the man being positively identified as Gary Tweddle.
“His family have been notified and police are preparing a report for the information of the coroner.”