Police say it was “a tragic ending” after a two-day search for former MP Darius Tucker after divers made the grim discovery of the van he was driving, in waters off Marginal Wharf in St David’s yesterday.
Speaking to the media at the scene, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Antoine Daniels, said: “I just had a very difficult conversation obviously with the family – the victim’s family, so my sincere condolences to the family.
“I don’t want to say too much because obviously that family has to speak to the wider family members, so I don’t want to say to much to the media. But except I want to say thank you to the media for helping us get our messages out.
“As I say it’s a tragic ending in these missing persons (cases), as you must understand it is very complex because we have missing persons weekly and we have to have a proportionate response because everyone has a right to life and as police, we have to step up our responses when we find that things are suspicious.”
Police received a 911 call just before 9am yesterday (Mar 9) reporting a potential sighting of a white van submerged in the water at Marginal Wharf.
“We called out the marine police unit who came down with two divers,” said Mr Daniels.
“They dove under and unfortunately and tragically they the white van we have been looking for with an individual inside.”
The vehicle is now under forensic examination.
“There was no indication of foul play,” he added.
But he said: “It’s early in the investigation and we’re doing some forensic examination now before we extract the body and extract the van from the water.”
Mr Daniels also noted that CCTV cameras helped the police to narrow down the location of the area to search, which was focused on Marginal Wharf.
“They tracked and saw the van coming into the St David’s area so CCTV was a big assistance,” he said.
“We have been searching quite widely in this particular area. Sometimes you can’t see these things, you miss these things.
“I don’t think this is the time to really blame anyone. This is the time for us all to pull together and support the family. Then we’ll have time to look at how we can do things better in the future,” he added.
“As I say it’s a tragic ending in these missing persons (cases), as you must understand it is very complex because we have missing persons weekly and we have to have a proportionate response because everyone has a right to life and as police, we have to step up our responses when we find that things are suspicious.
“So, I just want everybody to know that I am really appreciative of all of the persons the persons who came out to help search for Mr Tucker,” he said.
“But unfortunately today, we have some tragic news.
“Having said that, as you know, formally the body has not been identified, so we don’t want to put any names in the media.
“So, we just want to say that a body has been found in the van that we have been looking for until we can get the formal identification.
“So that’s where we are now.”
