Two missing people have been found dead in River Hamble - including a child - says Hampshire police and crime commissioner Donna Jones

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones made the revelation during a police and crime panel meeting on Friday.

Mrs Jones was asked about the force’s ability to deal with a case such as that of Nicola Bulley, who went missing in Lancashire in February and was later found dead. Lancashire police have come under fire for disclosing personal information about her as part of the publicity for the search, although last week were cleared of wrongdoing.

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During her answer she revealed that police had been called to two missing people near the River Hamble, but both were dead despite having been found quickly. One was a child.

Mrs Jones was asked: ‘Would the constabulary have the capacity and the capability to respond to a significant search-based investigation? And from our performance, what basis is the reassurance that assumes there is? We are in a very different place than where it happens, but nevertheless, our constabulary needs to reassure us that we can tackle that.’

Mrs Jones said there was the capacity and the capability to cope effectively in a situation similar to the tragedy of Mrs Bulley.

She said: ‘The tragedy of Nicola Bulley was awful, and it was almost unfolding hour by hour thanks to the insatiable desire of the press to cover everything minute by minute.

‘In Hampshire, we are in a very, very good position. We are one of five police forces across England and Wales that have a marine unit; we have two very large ribs and another two we are taking delivery of on a trial.

‘I managed to secure some money from counter terrorism policing to pay for a part of one of those which is very good. They are not cheap – you are talking a couple of hundred thousand pounds for one of those – and our big Endeavour boat is the one that has the cabin on the front of it.

‘We will be taking delivery of the new big boat in September and the new ribs in October. They are currently on sea trials at the moment.

‘We are definitely playing a key role in terms of policing the water because of immigration, organised crime, and other things, policing the water has become very prevalent.

‘Chief constables have jurisdiction 12 miles out from their land boundary, and we have more miles of coastline – certainly one of the largest coastlines in England and Wales.

‘In terms of our preparedness for a situation like Nicola Bulley well very sadly we have had two such cases in Hampshire. You haven’t heard about them because they were, in terms of finding the people who were missing, that was executed very quickly and they were found within hours of them being reported by their families and one of them was a child, very sadly. The River Hamble is... the location of both incidents.

‘We are also very well supported by HANTSAR – Hampshire Search and Rescue – and Isle of Wight SAR, who did over 1,000 man-hours of a land search for us just last year and, I think, over 500 or 600 hours of water-based searching too because of the two cases that I reference particularly. They are brilliant.

‘I’m confident. And the reason I’m confident is because we have had two such cases, not dissimilar of individuals going missing and through GPS tracking with mobile phones being tracked towards the water’s edge and being found literally the same day.’