'It's horrible to think about': Shock after man's body recovered from river near children's park
Stafford residents spoke of their shock after the body of a man was recovered from a river next to a children's playground.
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One woman said her husband saw the man's body being pulled from the River Sow on Monday morning – emergency services, including an air ambulance, were called at around 9.30am to reports of a person in a body of water at Victoria Park.
Despite the best efforts of the emergency responders, the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
Local residents spoke of their shock at the tragedy.
David Jackson, 32, of Jennings Street, said: "It's horrible to think about really, isn't it? We don't know what's happened or why."
William Morris, a student at Stafford College, says the park is popular with children and hopes there were no youngsters around at the time.
The 20-year-old said: "I didn't see much when it happened but there was a large police presence.
"It's bad – it's a popular park, kids usually play on it so I hope they didn't see anything."
Julie Carter said her husband saw what he thought was a body being recovered from the water this morning, as well as the air ambulance coming down to land.
The 54-year-old, who lives in an apartment opposite to where the incident happened, said: "It's terrible, we saw this helicopter come down and my husband said he thinks he saw a body being pulled from the water.
"It's not something that usually happens in this area now, especially not in that stretch of water. It's a bit concerning."
