Police divers remove large black bag from river during hunt for Gaynor Lord
An orange buoy was placed on a specific spot in the river on Friday.
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Your support makes all the difference.Police divers have been seen removing a large black bag from the River Wensum in their search for missing mother-of-three Gaynor Lord.
Officers said there is a “high probability” that Ms Lord went into the River Wensum in Norwich, where a search is being conducted by the specialist dive team.
On Friday an orange buoy was positioned about 100 metres down stream from where the focus of the search had been the day before.
An Environment Agency search boat was then stationed next to the buoy as a dive team arrived just after 11am.
Two members of the specialist dive team could be seen surveying the area, appearing to check if the water was safe to enter.
Police divers with flippers could be seen ready to enter the water in a park area further along the river but after a phone call was received, their kit was packed up and they rediverted.
At around 12pm, officers could be seen recovering something from the river in a black bag.
Norfolk Police previously said they have not been able to establish Ms Lord’s state of mind when she went missing with “any degree of confidence”.
It comes as a friend of Ms Lord said she was “upbeat and happy” and talking about Christmas just days before she disappeared.
Julie Butcher told the BBC her friend seemed “fine” when they met on Tuesday last week.
Ms Butcher told the broadcaster she spoke to her friend at 2.15pm on Friday last week but she had to cut the call short to speak to a client.
She said she received another call form Ms Lord at 4.15pm but it “sounded like a pocket call – I could hear movement in her pocket”.
Norfolk Constabulary released CCTV footage of what they believe is the last sighting of Ms Lord before she disappeared in Norwich on Friday December 8.
Ms Lord, 55, disappeared after leaving work early in Norwich city centre at 2.45pm.
Her belongings were found in Wensum Park, about 1.5 miles from her workplace at Jarrolds department store, and her coat was discovered in the river that runs through the park.
Police said Ms Lord’s clothing, mobile phone, glasses and jewellery, including two rings, were discovered at various locations in the park.
The CCTV clip shows Ms Lord, wearing glasses and a long coat, walking along St Augustines Street in Norwich, which is busy with traffic, at 4.01pm on Friday.
Chief Superintendent Dave Buckley previously said it will take “a couple of days” or longer to complete the search of the stretch of river, which has included using sonar equipment.
Mr Buckley said they were keeping an open mind about what happened to Ms Lord but “everything we know is pointing to a high probability that Gaynor went into the water”.
He added that CCTV footage did not show anything about the motivations for Ms Lord’s actions.
Mr Buckley said officers had “some indications” of why Ms Lord left work more than hour before she was scheduled to finish.
Police confirmed they have consulted officers from Lancashire Constabulary who worked on the search for Nicola Bulley.
Ms Bulley’s body was found in the River Wyre in Lancashire on February 19.
The Lancashire force was criticised over its handling of that investigation and the disclosure of Ms Bulley’s personal information.