Body found in hunt for missing Bush Briton

Police searching for a missing British man in the Australian bush say a body has been discovered.

Gary Tweddle, 23, was attending a conference in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, when he disappeared after an work dinner six weeks ago.

The computer salesman, who had emigrated to Australia with his family, rang colleagues also staying at the Fairmont Resort in Leura in the early hours of July 17 to say he was lost in the bushland.

He has not been heard from since then despite extensive search and rescue efforts.

Police said a body believed to be Mr Tweddle was found by an ambulance rescue helicopter during a training exercise near bushland in Leura.

Joanne Elliott, a spokeswoman for Blue Mountains Local Area Command, said the "extremely rough terrain" meant police rescue officers would be unable to retrieve the body just yet.

She added: "The location couldn't be accessed on foot and the crew lost all light in the mountains so we're unable to get down to the ground. They will return first thing in the morning with Blue Mountains police."

Ms Elliott said officers had been in contact with Mr Tweddle's family to inform them of the discovery.

His mother Carol Streatfield, who also lives in Australia, had previously flown to the Blue Mountains to join the search for her son.

She said the phone call from her son's partner Anika telling her that he was missing was the first step in the most "heartbreaking journey" of her life.

In a statement issued by the Foreign Office last month, she said: "On the mountain my days were filled with sirens, noise, searching, tireless walking and door knocking. I repeatedly followed the track I believed he had taken in the hopes of finding a clue."

Ms Streatfield married her partner Clive last month. She went on: "Gary was to give me away that morning and this decision was difficult to come to, however made easy by the fact that Gary was adamant that after 15 years we tie the knot."