A SUFFOLK headteacher has spoken of his sadness after one of his teachers was found dead in marshland.

The body of Vincent Ward, 47, was discovered on the Carlton Marshes Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve, on Friday.

His death is not being treated as suspicious by police.

Mr Ward, a married teacher at Lothingland Middle School, in Lound, near Lowestoft, had been missing since Thursday.

Headteacher Paul Morton said: “This is extremely sad news and our thoughts are with Vincent’s family at this time.

“Vincent was well liked by everyone at the school and will be sadly missed.

“Appropriate support is being made available to all staff and pupils at the school.”

A former pupil of Mr Ward, who is believed to have taught geography, left an online tribute, describing him as the “best teacher in the world”.

Another message said Mr Ward was a “well nice” man.

Mr Ward was last seen at his Carlton Colville home by his wife on Thursday morning as she left for work.

When she returned home, at 5.15pm, there was no sign of her husband.

Following his disappearance, crew from the South Broads RNLI and coastguard search teams from Lowestoft, Southwold and Gorleston were called in by police to carry out a night time search of the area around the Carlton Marshes visitor centre.

Mr Ward’s body was found at 2pm on Friday by a search dog and a volunteer from the Norfolk Lowland Search and Rescue team.

It was formally identified on Monday afternoon as that of Mr Ward.

A Suffolk police spokesman said: “There are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances to the death and an inquest is expected to be held in due course.”