-
Victoria Avenue
Father pays tribute to 'emotional and empathetic' son after body discovered under railway arch
The father of missing university student Viktor Ivanelo has paid tribute to his “very emotional and empathetic” son, after his body was found underneath a railway arch near Surbiton station.
Kingston police officers and British Transport Police (BTP) were called to Victoria Recreation Ground in Balaclava Road at about 1.30pm on Tuesday after the discovery. A BTP spokesman said officers had examined the scene and were treating the death as unexplained.
The body is believed to be Viktor Ivanelo, a 21-year-old University of Surrey student who disappeared in mysterious circumstances after leaving a friend's house in Esher more than a month ago on February 26.
The student's phone, keys, earphones and bag were among belongings found along a bridleway by a horse rider in Chessington the day after he disappeared. He was spotted on CCTV travelling to Claygate from Clapham Junction station the day before his disappearance but officers said not a "single sighting" of the student was reported.
Teams from Surrey Search and Rescue had been involved in the search along with police dogs, drones and helicopters. His family had also resorted to hiring a private detective, Andy Kemp, a former police officer who had worked for the Metropolitan Police’s missing desk for eight years.
Mr Ivanelo, who went to boarding school in the UK and was fluent in English, had been in the first year of a business management degree at the University of Surrey. Professor Jane Powell, vice-provost education and students at the University of Surrey, said staff and students were “greatly saddened” by this discovery on Tuesday.
A solitary bouquet of daffodils were left behind the iron railings in Victoria Recreation Ground on Wednesday. A post-mortem examination and formal identification are due to take place in the next three to four days.
By posting content on Surbiton.com, you agree to adhere to the following guidelines.
- Your username and password must only be used by you, keep them safe. If a posting is made using your username and password it will be considered to have been posted by you. If you have a friend who wants to use our site and post messages on the site, show them how to register.
- Be courteous at all times, inciting racial hatred, posting abusive, obscene, threatening, harassing, defamatory, libellous or sexually explicit material or any material that is found to be offensive is not acceptable and we may suspend your username and password.
- Retaliating to offensive posts causes more problems for other users on the discussion boards. Just report such messages to us using the Feedback link which is available at the top of every page or the 'report this' link associated with individual postings. We will act on every report we receive.
- Please respect other people's work and do not post material that infringes copyright.
- Do not post information that you know to be confidential or sensitive or otherwise in breach of the law. You should only post material that you know to be public knowledge. If you have any doubts do not post it on the site.
- Never attempt to gain unauthorised access to any area of the site. This is known as hacking and is illegal.
- Content posted represents the opinions of the author, and does not represent the opinions of Surbiton.com or its affiliates and has not been approved or issued by Surbiton.com. You should be aware that the other participants are strangers to you and may make statements which may be misleading, deceptive or wrong.
- Spoofing or posing as another user is unacceptable. Anonymous users' postings should always be considered with suspicion.
- Help keep Surbiton.com a safe place for information and opinion. Please alert us of any anti-social behaviour as described above.
Surbiton.com 1998 - 2024
Comments
Post new comment