A body has been found by police searching for a 23-year-old man last seen swimming in the River Mersey.

Haydn Griffiths went missing after swimming towards wind turbines off the coast of New Brighton, Wirral, at about 10.30pm last Tuesday, when the country saw record temperatures.

A Merseyside Police spokeswoman confirmed the body of a man had been found on Sunday night.

She said: “At this time the death is being treated as unexplained and a post-mortem examination will take place to establish the cause.

“The body is yet to be formally identified.”

An extensive search of the river was launched by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency last week after Mr Griffiths went missing.

On Friday, police and the Coastguard warned members of the public not to carry out plans for a community search of the shoreline from New Brighton to Burbo Bank Offshore Wind Farm.