Divers searching river find body

Police had been called to the Prospect Inn in Exeter

Divers searching for a man who dived into a river after police were called to a pub have found a body.

Officers had been asked to escort the man from the Prospect Inn on the Quay at St Leonards in Exeter, Devon.

Eyewitnesses said after an apparent disagreement the man dived into the river, disappearing under the water when he was about halfway across.

Police said the man "went for a swim" to meet his girlfriend on the opposite bank of the River Exe.

In a report issued on the Devon and Cornwall Police website, the force said: "Police were already at the scene answering a call of a disturbance in the area.

"Officers spoke to the reporting person and then the man went for a swim in the river saying he was trying to get across and meet his girlfriend on the opposite side of the bank.

"Police officers and members of the public entered the water when the man appeared to get into difficulty."

Many people on Exeter's waterfront witnessed the incident, which happened at about 1345 BST.