A body has been found in a search for a mother who has been missing for weeks in north-west England. The lifeless body was found in the River Wyre near where the 45-year-old was last seen, police said on Sunday. The body has not yet been identified.

"We are currently treating this as an unexplained death," it said. The woman has been missing since January 27 under mysterious circumstances that have gripped the country for weeks.

After dropping her nine- and six-year-old daughters off at school, the woman walked her dog. She took part in a business call on her mobile phone. The dog and cell phone were soon found, but there has been no trace of the 45-year-old since then.

A police report recently caused a stir, according to which the woman was an alcoholic and that the problems had recently increased again because of her menopause. Leading politicians criticized the publication as an inadmissible invasion of privacy.