The family of a missing firefighter have said they are "completely heartbroken" after a body, believed to be him, was found in a river.

A member of the public alerted officers to a man's body in the River Ouse in Newhaven, East Sussex, at 9:41am on Friday.

Anthony Knott, from Orpington in Kent, was last seen after a Christmas pub crawl in Lewes on 20 December.

The father-of-four left The Lamb pub alone at about 7.16pm and police say his phone was switched off shortly afterwards.

In a statement on Facebook, the 33-year-old's family said they were "utterly devastated and completely heartbroken" following the discovery of the body.


The statement continued: "Anthony's story has reached out and touched the hearts of thousands of people.

"We would like to thank everyone for your incredible support, shares, posters, volunteers and donations.

"The people of Lewes, we will be forever grateful for your support & understanding during our searches. These three weeks have been so very hard for us all.

"We now want to take some time as a family to grieve and as I am sure everyone will understand, to respect our privacy for this time."

Sussex Police deployed boats, dogs, drones and helicopters in their three-week effort to find him.

Missing firefighter seen walking from pub

The force also released a CCTV video which they believed showed the London Fire Brigade firefighter walking alone on the night he was last seen.

Mr Knott's fiancee Lucy Otto described his disappearance as a complete mystery on Christmas Eve.

She said in a tearful interview with Sky News: "I don't understand how someone can just walk out of a pub and disappear.

"There's no eyewitness statements, there's not much CCTV, there's nothing really to go on.

"And to be gone for this long, I just don't get it, I just do not understand it."

'It's a complete mystery' - Firefighter's fiancee

She added: "I know the weather was really bad that day and there was bad flooding, I don't know if he's tried to come home and come across some water and hurt himself."

Detective Inspector Mark Rosser said after the body was recovered from the river: "Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Anthony at this difficult time. We too are saddened by this update and would ask the public and media to respect the families' privacy at this time.

"We would like to thank the public for their tremendous support with our investigation into the disappearance of Anthony, along with our partner agencies and volunteers who assisted with the search."