Natasha: Police find a body next to railway line

The corpse was discovered at 7.30pm a mile from Manningtree station, Essex, in thick undergrowth next to the track.

Natasha, 17, from Dovercourt, Essex, vanished after boarding a late-night train from Ipswich on July 27 as she headed home after a night out with friends.

She is believed to have disembarked at Manningtree - where her mobile phone's signal was lost - to change trains.

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A spokesman for Essex Police said the body was yet to be identified, but Natasha's family had been told of the body's discovery.

The last sighting of Natasha, who had just started work as a clerical assistant, was as she boarded the train at Ipswich.

Earlier yesterday, her former boyfriend Joshua Brennan, 18, whom she had been seeing 'on and off' for less than a year, had made an emotional appeal for help in finding her.

Police believe on the night she went missing Natasha might have been particularly upset about her most recent separation from Mr Brennan two weeks before.

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Mr Brennan, who said he had spoken to Natasha on the day she went missing, said: 'My last words to her were, "I love you". ' He said they had spent Valentine's Day in Paris and had also been on a trip to Amsterdam together.

'She had no reason to run away,' he said. 'Natasha, in my mind, is gorgeous. She is the most gorgeous person I have ever met.'

Manningtree station was closed last night as police made inquiries, forcing commuters to make alternative travel arrangements.

An employee of rail operator One said services were stopped at about 8.30pm, as police officers stopped passengers going on to the station platform.

The spokesman for Essex Police added: 'British Transport Police and Essex police will be carrying out an investigation and there will be a post-mortem examination.'

A spokesman for British Transport Police said: 'Police officers are currently at the scene and cannot confirm whether the incident is suspicious or non- suspicious at this present time.'

Natasha's father Gary, an insurance company manager, told last week of the 'unimaginable pain' he and his wife Joanne were suffering.

'We just want to know she is OK,' he said. 'If she is with anyone, it doesn't matter. The house is so empty without her. It's unbearable.'