THIS is the dramatic moment when the search for a missing grandmother went wrong this morning as a dingy containing sophisticated equipment was swept over a raging weir.
Officers of Northumbria Police Marine Unit were forced to abandon their vessel when their engine failed as they scanned the top of the weir with specialist sonar equipment, in Chester-le-Street, County Durham.
The marine unit abandon the dingy as the engine cuts (Pictures: Gavin Engelbrecht)
They try to hang on to the boat as it is swept over the weir
Expensive computer equipment is given a soaking as it becomes caught in a cauldron beneath the weir
They clung onto the vessel as it swept over the weir.
But the vessel got caught in the cauldron and officers looked on helplessly as it was partially-submerged and their expensive computer was soaked.
The drama unfolded on the River Wear at Chester-le-Street’s Riverside Park shortly after 11am.
The crew had set off earlier from the Chester-le-Street Amateur Rowing Club in their search for Pamela Jackson.
The 55-year-old has not been seen since Saturday, March 2, when she spoke to her son Joe at their home in the Crescent, Chester-le-Street.
Police have made extensive inquiries in and around Chester-le-Street, in a bid to find clues to where Ms Jackson, could have gone.
They have also arrested and charged her partner, 50-year-old Adrian Muir, with her murder.
Mr Muir’s barrister, Tony Davis, was due to make a bail application on his behalf at Newcastle Crown Court this morning.
But Judge James Goss adjourned the hearing after being told that new evidence had come to light.
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