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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/27/missing-barnsley-boy-police-find-body-conley-thompson
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| Missing Barnsley boy: police find child's body on construction site | Missing Barnsley boy: police find child's body on construction site |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Police searching for a seven-year-old boy who went missing after playing with friends in a park in South Yorkshire have found the body of a child on a construction site. | Police searching for a seven-year-old boy who went missing after playing with friends in a park in South Yorkshire have found the body of a child on a construction site. |
| Officers believe the body to be that of Conley Thompson, from Barnsley, who was last seen playing with friends a mile away from the construction site on Bank End Road in Worsbrough on Sunday night. | |
| Police said the boy left Locke Park at about 8pm and was supposed to return to his home at Underwood Avenue, but never turned up. A body matching his description was found at approximately 8.30am on Monday morning. | |
| A police spokesman said: “Formal identification of the body is yet to take place; however, it is believed to be that of Conley.” | A police spokesman said: “Formal identification of the body is yet to take place; however, it is believed to be that of Conley.” |
| It is understood that about 50 police officers were deployed in the search for the missing boy overnight, while local residents reported seeing a helicopter joining the search effort. | |
| The construction site was cordoned off on Monday morning as officers scoured the area. An investigation is under way to establish what happened. | |
| DI Victoria Short, who is leading the investigation for South Yorkshire police, said: “We deployed our full resources with officers searching throughout the night to find Conley and we are deeply saddened by this tragic development. | DI Victoria Short, who is leading the investigation for South Yorkshire police, said: “We deployed our full resources with officers searching throughout the night to find Conley and we are deeply saddened by this tragic development. |
| “While it’s early in the investigation, the death is being treated as unexplained and a postmortem will take place in due course. Our thoughts remain with Conley’s family and friends at this very difficult time.” | “While it’s early in the investigation, the death is being treated as unexplained and a postmortem will take place in due course. Our thoughts remain with Conley’s family and friends at this very difficult time.” |
| Local residents laid flowers and teddy bears at the site. Wayne Bolton, who went with his four-year-old son to pay his respects, said: “We are not friends with the family, but it’s tragic what’s happened and it just makes you appreciate what you have. I can’t begin to imagine what that family are going through.” | |
| He added: “We just want to show support for the family and to be fair the whole community has turned up. It’s shocked everyone and everyone is in bits and luckily, in an area like this, everyone comes together and we all help each other.” | |
| Cheryl Dunning, the mother of one of Conley’s school friends, said the discovery of the boy’s body was “very sad”. She added: “It makes it worse because he’s the same age (as her son) and everyone knew him.” | |
| Kelsey Heeley, 17, who lives near the construction site, said: “I can’t really put into words how people are feeling because you don’t know ... It’s heartbreaking, because he’s a young boy. It would be heartbreaking if it were anybody but he had his life to come.” | |
| There have been claims on social media that children regularly play at the site where Conley was found. One Twitter user, called Brett, said he used to live near the area. He wrote: “It is a dangerous place to play but kids do. I was knocked unconscious there.” | |
| Rev Trevor Keightley, vicar at St Thomas’s church in Worsbrough, said a book of condolences would be opened at the church from Tuesday. “We are all shocked and all our hearts go out to the family and our thoughts and prayers are with them at this time,” he said. | |
| “Everyone’s feeling it at the moment and everyone is very upset about it all. There was lots of people on Facebook and others going out to look for him, so people were very concerned for him.” |