A physique discovered within the River Thames three weeks in the past is believed to be lacking pupil Samaria Ayanle, police have mentioned.

The 19-year-old was final seen at her college lodging in central London within the early hours of twenty-two February - however she was not reported lacking till workers alerted police on 8 March.

Detectives are treating her loss of life as "unexplained".

An appeal for information was launched on Tuesday however officers have now linked the case with a physique discovered final month.

The Metropolitan Police mentioned officers have been known as by a member of the general public at 8.19am on 22 February after they reported seeing the physique from the north foreshore of the river close to Putney Pier.

It got here simply hours after Ms Ayanle was final seen close to Marble Arch.

The physique was recovered with no private property on it and fingerprint checks have been "negative", police mentioned.

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A Met spokesperson added: "Police checked recent missing persons' reports but the body did not match the description of any other people reported missing around that time.

"The physique was despatched to the coroner to conduct additional checks. Meanwhile, particulars have been uploaded onto the UK Missing Person database within the hope the individual may be recognized.

"After Samaria was reported missing officers linked their enquiries to the 22 February discovery on Wednesday 13 March. They have viewed body-worn video from then and believe the person found is Samaria."

The physique has not been formally recognized.

Detectives are interesting for anybody with details about her disappearance to get in contact.

The obvious discovery of Ms Ayanle's physique final month got here after police recovered the bodies of two men within the River Thames on 10 February whereas trying to find alkali assault suspect Abdul Ezedi.

His physique was later found on 19 February.