POLICE searching for a missing 21-year-old man said last night they had found a body.

Duncan Gibbon, of Swainby, near Northallerton, North Yorkshire, has not been seen since Saturday night when he went to Newcastle to celebrate a friend’s 21st birthday.

He had been drinking with friends in Fever Bar, near the Quayside. At about midnight, the party left the bar in two groups, each thinking Mr Gibbon was with the other.

Mr Gibbon was meant to be staying with a friend on Tyneside and had planned to head back to North Yorkshire on Sunday.

The alarm was not raised until Sunday afternoon when his friends realised no one knew where he was.

Northumbria Police has conducted an extensive search of the Quayside area. Officers were joined by search specialists from mountain rescue teams to carry out fingertip searches on ropes.

The identity of the body found yesterday has not yet been confirmed by police.

A spokesman said: “Police searching for missing person Duncan Gibbon have discovered the body of a man. Identification is yet to be established and police inquiries are ongoing.

“The body was found on an embankment on Newcastle Quayside, in the area of the High Level Bridge.”

Mr Gibbon’s parents, Simon and Kate, and younger brother, Jake, 19, made an emotional plea for help to trace him on Tuesday.

They described Mr Gibbon as an “outgoing, friendly, fun-loving guy”, who had been out with friends he had known from Stokesley School.

They said it was out of character for him to go missing and not tell his family where he was.

The Edinburgh University student has previously visited Tyneside, where his brother is a student at Newcastle University, but his family said he does not have much knowledge of the city beyond its centre.

Relatives were believed to be in Newcastle yesterday as police continued their efforts to find Mr Gibbon.

Anyone with information about Mr Gibbon’s disappearance is asked to call police on 0345-604-3043, ext 69191.