One of two Christmas Day Budleigh Salterton swimmers discovered

The physique of a 47-year-old man has been recovered after two swimmers went lacking on Christmas Day, police have stated.

Officers stated they discovered the person at Sandy Bay close to Exmouth on Tuesday after two swimmers went lacking in stormy seas at Budleigh Salterton, Devon, on 25 December.

Formal identification is but to be carried out, however officers stated they consider the particular person to be a 47-year-old man. His next-of-kin have been knowledgeable.

One of the swimmers was named as 64-year-old local antiques dealer Matthew Upham.

Supt Ryan Doyle, from Devon and Cornwall Police, stated the invention was “very sad news”.

He added: “We have spoken with his family and we are continuing to support them through this difficult time. Understandably they have asked for their privacy to be respected.

“The household of the second lacking man has additionally been knowledgeable and are being supported.”

The alarm was raised at 10:25 GMT on 25 December after teams of swimmers bumped into the ocean.

BBC journalist Phillip Stoneman, who was at the swim, previously described the conditions as the “roughest it has been”.

RNLI crews as well as coastguard helicopters carried out extensive shoreline and offshore searches and a number of people were safely brought back to shore.

They were checked either by paramedics at the scene or taken to hospital as a precaution.

Organisers of some Christmas and Boxing Day swims in Devon and Cornwall had postponed or cancelled events resulting from a yellow climate warning for wind.

Flowers had been positioned alongside the sting of the seaside at Budleigh Salterton and outdoors the antiques store run by Upham with local people saying the incident had “struck the heart” of the seaside town.