Body found on Greek island believed to be of missing British TV presenter

Michael Mosley had set off on a walk in a mountainous area in Greece on Wednesday afternoon.

A days-long search for missing British television presenter Michael Mosley has led to the recovery of a body on a Greek island, according to local authorities.

A police spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of an ongoing investigation, was quoted as saying by The Associated Press news agency that the body was found on a rocky coast by a private boat and that formal identification was pending.

The 67-year-old went missing on the island of Symi on Wednesday afternoon after going for a walk.

The AP also quoted Lefteris Papakalodoukas, the island’s mayor who was on a boat with media representatives looking for Mosley on Sunday – the fifth day of the search – as confirming the body believed to belong to Mosley was found.

The mayor said the deceased appeared to have fallen down a steep slope, stopping against a fence and lying face-up with a few rocks on top of it. The body had a leather bag in one hand, said Antonis Mystiloglou, a cameraman with state TV ERT, who was also on the boat.

In a statement, his wife, Clare Bailey Mosley, who was on the island along with their four children said she was devastated by the loss of her “wonderful, funny, kind and brilliant husband.”

She added that their life together was “incredibly lucky,” and said that she was “incredibly proud” of their four children who they had raised together all these years.

According to UK media reports, the Mosley family will also lay flowers at the spot where Michael Mosley’s family was found, on Monday.

Mosley is best known for a string of British television programmes, including the BBC series Trust Me, I’m a Doctor and a number of documentaries about diet and exercise, including the Channel 4 show Michael Mosley: Who Made Britain Fat?.

Mosley, who studied medicine in London, also made radio appearances and was a columnist in the Daily Mail newspaper.

Outside the United Kingdom, for his 2013 book The Fast Diet, which proposed the so-called “5:2 diet”, which promised to help people lose weight quickly by minimising their calorie intake two days a week.

He also lived with tapeworms in his guts for six weeks for the BBC documentary Infested! Living With Parasites.