Public urged to stop dangerous River Tees searches for missing woman

Image caption, Emergency services are searching the Tees in Yarm for missing Gloria Clarke

Members of the public are being told to cease river searches for a missing woman because it is too dangerous.

Gloria Clarke, 80, was last seen leaving her home in Meadowsfield Drive, Eaglescliffe on 31 December.

Cleveland Police said it had CCTV footage of a woman matching her description entering the River Tees.

The force said it was carrying out extensive searches and urged informal search parties to stop because the river area was too "hazardous."

Police, Cleveland Fire Brigade, Tees River Rescue and Tees River Trust are focussing their search on the river and its banks.

A police spokeswoman said: "The river is particularly deep at the moment and extremely fast flowing due to recent weather.

"We would ask informal search parties to stand down due to these hazardous conditions around the riverbank."

Ms Clarke was last seen wearing a blue Regatta coat with a poppy badge and black Skechers trainers.

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