Missing presenter Speight 'found dead'

The body of a man believed to be missing children's TV presenter Mark Speight has been found at Paddington Station in London, according to police.

The 42-year-old had been missing since last week, after his fiancee Natasha Collins was found dead in the bath of their London flat earlier this year.

Police said Speight's relatives had been informed of the discovery but the body had yet to be formally identified. They are treating the death as "unexplained" but confirmed that the man had not been hit by a train.

Following the news, the BBC released a statement saying: "This is very sad news and our thoughts and sympathies are with Mark's family and friends. Mark was a hugely talented and very popular presenter for many years."

Speight, who fronted the BBC children's show SMart until February, was reported missing after he failed to meet Natasha Collins' mother as planned on April 7.

He was recorded on a security camera entering Queen's Park station in north-west London, and boarding a Bakerloo Line train towards Paddington.

Relatives had made appeals to Speight over the past few days, with his father Oliver urging him not to "give up".

Both his family and the family of Natasha Collins had issued a statement saying he had been in a "fragile state of mind" when he disappeared.

Speight had been arrested on suspicion of murder and supplying class A drugs after Collins' body was found at their flat on January 3 this year, although no charges were brought against him.

The actress and TV presenter was found to have overdosed on drugs, sleeping pills and alcohol, and had burns to 60 per cent of her body from boiling water.