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 at Lound, near Lowestoft, had been missing since Thursday.

Yesterday staff and pupils at the school were being given support by Suffolk County Council after they were told of his death.

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 staff and pupils at the school.'

A former pupil of Mr Ward, who is believed to have taught geography, left a tribute to him through the EDP's website.

The tribute said: 'R.I.P mr ward ill never forget about you, best teacher in the world xx.'

Another tribute 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 Friday by a search dog and a volunteer from the Norfolk Lowland Search and Rescue team.

Mr Ward's body was formally identified yesterday afternoon.

A Suffolk police spokesman said: 'I can confirm the body has been positively identified as being that of Vincent Ward.

'There are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances to the death and an inquest is expected to be held in due course.

'Mr Ward's wife continues to receive police family support assistance.'

Lothingland Middle School is due to close in the summer as part of a county council school reorganisation review which will move education from a three tier system to a two tier system.