POLICE CONFIRM DISCOVERY OF BODY ON LARGS BEACH

Police Scotland said it received a report on Sunday 25 October that someone had found a man’s body in the Largs beach area of North Ayrshire. Officers have not formally identified the body, but they have informed the family of Jim Wither, who went missing from Johnstone, Renfrewshire. HM Coastguard began searching for Wither after receiving a report that a man had gone overboard from the MV Caledonian Isles near Arran on Sunday 18 October. The report reached the coastguard at around 8.30pm. Wither had boarded a CalMac ferry travelling from Ardrossan to the Isle of Arran during Storm Boelo.

Two helicopters, a coastguard aircraft, Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboats and rescue teams from the surrounding area joined the search. The crews searched the waters near Arran after the report from the ferry. Search teams ended their operation early on Monday 19 October; one account gives the time as 4.55am. Caledonian MacBrayne said its staff and the crew of the MV Caledonian Isles were assisting Police Scotland and HM Coastguard with an enquiry into a missing person. The ferry operator gave that account before police announced the discovery at Largs.

Police Scotland said officers do not regard the death as suspicious. In a statement, the force said: “The death is not being treated as suspicious and a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal in due course.” The procurator fiscal will receive that report as part of the confirmed next steps in the case. Police have not announced when formal identification will take place.