Conor was last seen on December 8 at Kew Bridge

One of the two bodies recovered from the Thames on January 8 has been identified as that of Conor O'Donoghue, a teenager from Richmond.

Police were called at 4.05pm on Tuesday to reports of a
body found floating in the Thames close to Chiswick Bridge.

The body was removed from the river by RNLI lifeboat and on Thursday was formally identified as that of 17 year-old Conor, a pupil at Tiffin School in Kingston-upon-Thames.

Police say a post-mortem examination has been conducted at Fulham Mortuary and proved inconclusive. Officers now await the results of further tests.

An inquest was also opened and adjourned at West London Coroner's Court yesterday. Conor's death is being treated as non-suspicious at this time.

He had been reported missing to officers on December 9 having last been seen at Kew Bridge on the morning of December 8.

His school head teacher Hilda Clarke paid tribute to Conor as "a bright and able student". She said: "Conor joined Tiffin School in the sixth form in September 2011 from St Benedict’s School in Ealing. He quickly established himself as a bright and able student who did very well in his AS studies and examinations.

“By the beginning of Year 13, Conor had decided that he would like to go on to university to study physics and he was showing all the promise of being able to fulfil these ambitions.

" Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this very sad and distressing time. "

Chiswick RNLI were called out to recover two bodies, both of young men, from the Thames on Tuesday. The other body, found near the foreshore at Putney Bridge at 8am, has still not been formally identified.

Station Manager Wayne Bellamy, who was on board the lifeboat for both of the recoveries, said: "Chiswick RNLI's thoughts and prayers are with the families of two young men whose bodies were recovered from the River Thames on Tuesday, Jan 8 2013. Our Lifeboat Crew had the sad duty of recovering them from the river."

Mr Bellamy said he could not imagine what these times have been like for the families of the two young men not knowing where they were. He added: " I truly hope that now we have found them, we have helped in some way."

 

January 11, 2013