Hunt for missing university student Hannah Webster ends in tragedy

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A university student has been found dead in woodland a day after she went missing in Colchester.

Hannah Webster, 20, who was studying finance at Essex University, went missing on Thursday sparking a massive hunt to find her.

A social media campaign spread quickly across Facebook and Twitter with hundreds of people sending messages.

But Essex Police said on Friday that officers had found her body near a cycle route in Colchester.

A spokesman said: "The search for missing Hannah Webster has been suspended following the discovery of a woman’s body in a wooded area off a cycle route between East Hill and The Hythe, Colchester.

"The body was found by police at about 12.10pm today, Friday 12 May. The death is not being treated as suspicious.

"Formal identification has yet to take place but Hannah’s next of kin have been informed."

Ms Webster was originally from Dewsbury, in Yorkshire.