POLICE are trying to establish whether a body found on the French coast near Cherbourg is that of missing taxi driver Norman Le Messurier. Mr Le Messurier, 65, went missing 11 weeks ago. His family last saw him at about 4pm on 17 May.
The body was found north of Cap de la Hague on 19 June and the French authorities have since been carrying out an investigation using forensics in a bid to determine its identity.
Mr Le Messurier’s brother Gordon was remaining open-minded yesterday.
‘We don’t expect to know anything until the middle of next week,’ he said.
‘A lot of rumours have been going around and some people seem to think they know more than the family does. It’s embarrassing and it has upset the family, particularly the women.’
Inspector Terry Coule said that Guernsey Police were working closely with French authorities.
‘As soon as we have any official confirmation, one way or another, we will notify the family and release information to the media,’ he said.
‘We must ensure that any information we do release is completely accurate.’
Gordon Le Messurier took his brother home at 4pm on Thursday 17 May. Norman arranged to go to Gordon’s house at 10.30am two days later, but he did not turn up.
Mr Le Messurier’s 16-year-old niece Claire set up a website, findmyuncle.piczo.com, in the wake of her uncle’s disappearance. By this morning, it had received nearly 1,500 hits.
The emergency services carried out a land, sea and air search on the weekend following his disappearance.
The last reported sighting of Mr Le Messurier was in the Rue du Chateau and Vale Castle area sometime between 7.30 and 8pm on 17 May.
His vehicles have been accounted for and police said at the time that they believed he had been on foot.
Mr Le Messurier was known to have been suffering from depression when he went missing.
He is one of a family of 10 - six brothers and four sisters.
Article posted on 2nd August, 2007 - 12.00am
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