Spanish police sources say an arrest has been made after a “decomposing” body thought to be that of a missing Belfast man was found on the Costa Blanca early this afternoon.

The solicitor for the family of John George, also known as Hardy, said the victim’s father Billy George had received a call from Spanish detectives around 5pm today to tell them his son’s remains had been recovered.

In a statement Kevin Winters said: “Mr Billy George was told that his son's body was now in a morgue, awaiting formal identification.
"The family are both distressed, but also relieved at this latest news. It brings to an end an extremely tortuous search process for the body."

The Spanish Civil Guard, which has been leading the search for the missing man who was also known as John George, has yet to make an official statement about the discovery or the arrest.

But a source close to the ongoing inquiry said the man’s body had been found in Rojales near Torrevieja and around 45 minutes drive south of Alicante. A post-mortem is due to take place in the coming hours.

The same source said a man whose identity and nationality has not yet been disclosed had been arrested shortly after the gruesome discovery.

John, 37, disappeared after travelling to Alicante in mid-December. He was last in touch with his family on 14 December. The father of two did not catch a scheduled flight home after what was meant to be a short holiday and was reported missing four days later.

His family said he had been murdered and mounted a high profile campaign to have his body returned. John’s brother Darren travelled to Alicante to help in the search with their parents, Billy and Sharon, and sister Courtney and Caitlin, along with up to 50 friends and wider family from Northern Ireland.

On January 1 members of K9 Search And Rescue NI, a volunteer canine search team, joined the wide-scale operation to find the missing man. Seven K9 search technicians and their Labrador retriever Rocko took part in the operation.

It was reported yesterday they had returned home on Sunday after scouring hundreds of miles of land. Speaking before the discovery of a body earlier today, Darren said of his brother: “A lot of people are over showing us their support. We also can see the support from back home, which is fantastic, and that's what's giving us the energy and the strength to actually go forward.

“But the searches can be very frustrating as we're getting no answers at the end of them. It's very frustrating and we are being left very angry. Someone knows where John is. They need to give it up, and they need to give the location, whether it's done anonymously.

"This isn't going to stop and certainly we're not going to go away until we get John's body. We get John's body, we're on the next flight out of here. Somebody has answers and we will not leave Spain without John's body.” He also admitted drugs had taken over his brother’s life, saying: “John had his troubles but he’s a normal, average guy.”