KATHMANDU, Sept 1: Police searching for a missing British diplomat have found a body in a forest in Hampshire, according to BBC.

Richard Morris, who previously served as British ambassador to Nepal, was last seen running in Alton in the county on May 6. "Hampshire Constabulary said officers had discovered a body in Alice Holt Forest and the death was not being treated as suspicious," said the BBC news.

Formal identification has not yet taken place, but the 52-year-old's family have been notified.

Police previously conducted a search operation in the forest, where Morris was known to enjoy running. Officers also inspected 2km (1.2 miles) of the River Wey, as well as scouring CCTV footage and carrying out house-to-house inquiries, before their search was scaled back. But their efforts failed to trace the whereabouts of the missing British diplomat.

Father-of-three Morris, originally from Worcestershire, was the UK ambassador to Nepal for four years until 2019. Before his disappearance he was appointed British High Commissioner to Fiji.

Morris had also worked as head of the Pacific department at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), consul general in Sydney as well as director general of trade and investment in Australasia. In an earlier statement, the Foreign Office described him as a "much-valued and well-liked colleague".

 
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