Body believed to be missing firefighter Anthony Knott found

10 January 2020, 13:30 | Updated: 10 January 2020, 13:36

Police have confirmed that a body believed to be missing firefighter Anthony Knott has been found in the water at Denton Island, East Sussex.

The body was found by a member of the public at 9.41AM on Friday.

33-year-old Anthony Knott vanished at around 7.40PM on Friday 20 December whilst out drinking with friends at The Lamb pub in Fisher Street, Lewes.

He left the pub alone at around 7.16PM, and CCTV showed the dad of four waking around outside shortly after, dressed in a jumper, jeans and dark jacket.

Mr Knott, who worked for the London Fire Brigade and was a semi-professional footballer for Orpington FC, was then seen walking back towards the pub at 7.41PM.

20 minutes earlier, his phone was switched off and has not been switched back on since.

Police have been carrying out extensive searches of the surrounding area, which had been affected by severe flooding in the days before his disappearance.

On Twitter, London Fire Brigade Commissioner Andy Roe said: “I'm saddened to hear the news about Firefighter Anthony Knott. All our thoughts remain with his family, friends and colleagues. This is understandably extremely difficult for Firefighter Knott’s family and I ask that we all respect their privacy.”

Detective Inspector Mark Rosser said: “Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Anthony at this difficult time. We too are saddened by this update and would ask the public and media to respect the families’ privacy at this time.

“We would like to thank the public for their tremendous support with our investigation into the disappearance of Anthony, along with our partner agencies and volunteers who assisted with the search.”