Police find body during hunt for missing woman seen smiling on CCTV near forest’

Police have found a body during the hunt for a missing woman who was last spotted on CCTV walking through a forest.

Joanne Jones was last seen at 9:45am on Monday, October 21, in Vale Gardens, Pontypridd, South Wales, but hadn’t been heard from since.

Ms Jones is believed to have headed towards the Llanwonno Forest area.

Over the past week, officers have been working to piece together a timeline of her movements and establish the circumstances surrounding her disappearance.

On Saturday evening, a statement released by South Wales Police said that Ms Jones’ family had been informed.

“Police officers searching for Joanne Jones, who has been missing since Monday, have recovered the body of a woman,” the force said. “Formal identification is yet to take place. Ms Jones’ family and HM Coroner have been informed.”

The force thanked the local community for their support. On Thursday and Friday, many joined the search for Ms Jones in Pontypridd, while traders stuck posters of the missing woman in their shop windows.

CCTV images from Monday show Ms Jones wearing a dark green coat, black rucksack, leggings, and walking boots.

Chief Inspector Matt Rowlands said on Thursday that the “National Police Air Service, drones, Mountain Rescue volunteers, specialist search dogs” had all been deployed to find the missing woman and circulated “missing person flyers to local dog walkers and hikers.”

Inspector Rowlands added that his officers had been working “tirelessly to try and establish the circumstances around her disappearance and to understand where she went after leaving Vale Gardens”.

At the time, officers were “keeping an open mind about what has happened to Joanne”.