A body that washed up on Dover's shoreline this morning is that of missing sailor George Spence, his family has confirmed.

The 61-year-old was found at the former hover port terminal at 9am today.

He was a sailor on the Suffolk Spirit, a ship that berthed in Dover on Monday, April 28.

A Kent Police spokesman said: "Officers are in attendance and carrying out initial inquiries."

It was feared Mr Spence, who lived in Lowestoft, Suffolk, may have fallen from the vessel, which was stationed in the Western Docks, next to Dover Cruise Terminal 1.

He was in Dover to do a wreck salvage, but because of bad weather, the ship was docked until conditions improved.

His sister Angela Roberts, 56, previously told KentOnline: “The horrible thing was that on the Friday morning of the week George was reported missing my family was crossing from Dover to Germany.

“I was horrified in case we hit George or saw him.”

The alarm was first raised on the morning of Tuesday, April 29, sparking two Dover RNLI lifeboat searches throughout the day.

Mr Spence lived with his wife Jane and 19-year-old step-son Paul.

Ms Roberts said George was famous for diving into the sea for wrecks and was sponsored by businessman and investor Richard Branson in one of his projects.

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