A RESIDENT in Cirencester was left shaken on Saturday (September 17) afternoon when he discovered the body of a missing woman in the river at the bottom of his garden.

Police had been searching for a missing elderly vulnerable woman since the previous night – according to Cotswold Police Inspector Karen Ellis – when Colin Palmer made the discovery around 2.45pm at his home in Corinium Gate.

“It took me five or six minutes to register in my mind what I was actually looking at,” said Colin, 73, who had been in Cheltenham all morning, so ‘didn’t know there was anybody missing at that stage’.

He said as he gathered himself, his son called and could tell immediately there was something up, asking: “What’s wrong, dad? You’re not talking normally.”

Colin had responded: ‘There’s a body in the river’ and his son told him to ‘talk to the police’.

Residents had taken to social media that morning, wondering why a police helicopter had been circling around the town for several hours, before it was confirmed it was being used as part of the search.

Colin said: “I didn’t know about the helicopter, I just didn’t know anything was going on until three [police] cars turned up on the road outside. They said they suspected that’s the missing woman we’re looking for.”

He said he remembered his security lights going on at about 2.30am on Friday (September 16) and getting up to look out of the window.

“It was like daylight because of the Harvest Moon. I didn’t look down here in the morning.”

Colin, who used to work for British Airways and has lived with his wife in Corninium Gate for 20 years, said he didn’t know the woman but talking about the incident has helped him get over the shock.

He said: “I don’t mind talking about it, I’ve got to get it out of my system somehow.

“It’s a bit of a shock. I like talking about it because you get it out of yourself.

“I’m going to go to her funeral. I didn’t know her from Adam. Never met her in my life.

“I feel as if I’ve got something with her and maybe it’ll be a bit of closure,” he added.

The woman’s family, who have asked for her not to be named, were informed of the discovery by police on Saturday.

The police say they are not treating the death as suspicious.

Cotswold Police Inspector Karen Ellis told the Standard: “The body of an elderly vulnerable woman has been found, having fallen into a river a short distance from her home."

She said: “We are not treating it as suspicious and our thoughts are with her family at this sad time.”