A body found in a woodland has been confirmed to be of murdered student midwife Joy Morgan.

The 20-year-old’s remains was found in Norton Green, Stevenage, after a member of the public made the report to Hertfordshire Police on Saturday, October 5.

A post-mortem held on Tuesday, October 8, confirmed Ms Morgan’s identity but further tests will be carried out to discover the cause of death.

Officers have insisted that Ms Morgan "wasn't missed" during a previous search of the area in which she was found around 40 miles away.

Det Insp Justine Jenkins said that due to the location, they "had that sinking feeling straight away" it was her.

"It wasn't missed, we did search close to the area but we also searched a number of other areas in Stevenage as well.

"It's not an exact science, because he [Israel] never said [where she was], we were working on snippets of information that we had from movements of his vehicle and telephones, etc.

"You do have to have parameters, you can't search the whole of Stevenage, although we were quite close to the area, that was an area that hadn't been searched."

Ms Morgan, 20, was murdered by Shohfah-El Israel from Fordwych Road, north-west London, who was jailed for 17 years after being found guilty in August.

The University of Hertfordshire midwife student from Hatfield was last seen alive at a church event in Ilford on Wednesday, December 26 2018.

She was reported missing on Thursday, February 7, after failing to return to her studies.

Israel, who was also a fellow worshipper at the Israel United In Christ church, never revealed where her body was.

Ms Jenkins said while the cause was "obviously important for the family" it would have "no further implications" for her killer.