POLICE chiefs today defended their search for a missing woman after amateur divers found her body in a lake.
Burntwood Sub Aqua Club members discovered Lyndsey Naylor's corpse at Chasewater on the afternoon of January 19. Club chairman William Rooney said the group was asked to search the beauty spot by a friend of Ms Naylor's family after she had been missing for almost a week.
"I was annoyed because the police should have been doing it, not us. All hell broke loose when we found her and there were officers everywhere.
"We were all shocked."
Staffordshire Police confirmed that the amateur club found Ms Naylor's body, but said the force had been planning to send its own divers within days.
There were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.
Det Sgt Chris Buxton, of Stafford-shire Police, said: "The body of Lyndsey Naylor was found in Chasewater by divers from Burn-twood Sub-Aqua Club.
"Officers had been in a helicopter above Chase- water on the morning of January 19 to make a detailed search with a view to police divers searching the area the week commencing January 21.
"We are grateful to the divers for their assistance."
Ms Naylor was reported missing from her Cannock home on January 13. Mr Rooney, 49, and his team of nine divers found the body within 20 minutes.
