Police have found the body of a woman in Camberwell on Sunday, after days of appeals for information to trace missing NHS worker Petra Srncova who was last seen in the area on 28 November.
At about 11.40am on Sunday police were called by a member of the public to reports that the body of a woman had been found in Brunswick Park in south-east London.
At this early stage, the woman’s death is being treated as unexplained, police said.
The Metropolitan police are still awaiting formal identification, but said Srncova’s family have been informed of this development.
The 32-year-old Czech national, a senior nurse assistant at Evelina London children’s hospital in Westminster, is thought to have disappeared while travelling to her home in Camberwell, south London, after finishing her shift.
Officers remain at the scene and a large police cordon has been put in place, as well as a blue tent where forensic investigators are working.
A witness told MyLondon the body was found by a group of children when they were playing in the park.
The MP for Camberwell and Peckham, Harriet Harman, appealed to the public on Saturday to come forward with any information about Srncova, who was reported missing on 3 December by a colleague.
Harman hosted a press conference on Saturday and urged members of the public to check CCTV and doorbell cameras for any sign of her constituent.
A man who had been arrested in connection with Srncova’s disappearance before the body was found had been released from custody pending further inquiries, the Met said.
Anyone with information is asked to call 101 or tweet @MetCC referencing 21MIS037753.
The discovery of a body comes amid a growing outcry over violence against women sparked by recent cases.
The kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard, who was taken off a south London street in March by a serving police officer, Wayne Couzens, prompted widespread anger. A vigil after her murder was later banned by police because of Covid restrictions. Hundreds gathered in defiance of the ban, and the Met and its commissioner, Cressida Dick, were later criticised for heavy-handed policing. Couzens was given a whole life sentence for the murder of the 33-year-old marketing executive in September.
There was also outrage over the death of Sabina Nessa in September. The body of the 28-year-old primary school teacher was found near a community centre in south-east London.
Koci Selamaj, 36, a garage worker, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, has been charged with her murder. He allegedly attacked Nessa as she walked through a park on her way to meet a friend.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/12/police-searching-for-missing-petra-srncova-find-body-in-park
