Woman's body found in the sea

Aug 2 2007 By Steve Johnson, Birmingham Mail

POLICE are having to use DNA and dental records to formally identify the body of a young Midland woman found off the Isle of Wight.

The body is believed to be that of 20-year-old Heather Harris, of Woodfield Avenue, Wollescote, Stourbridge.

But after 10 days in the water normal verification methods were not possible and it could be the end of the week before she is formally identified.

The body was spotted by a passenger on board a cross-Channel ferry at Bembridge Ledge just after 4pm last Friday.

Heather, a popular barmaid at The Foresters Arms in Wollaston, Stourbridge, was lost at sea on July 18.

She was on board a Rigid Inflatable Boat with her friend Richard Perry, aged 28, of Victoria Street, Brierley Hill when they fell overboard near Whitecliff Bay.

The body of Mr Perry was found in the water a couple of hours later and a post mortem examination gave the cause of death as drowning.

Heather's parents Nick Harris and Diane Moore said that she had dreamed of becoming a rally driver and loved "anything with an engine".