Police hunting fugitive find body

11.45am

Police searching for Hastings man Graham Walsh, who shot a police officer last week, have found a body on the banks of the Ngaruroro River.

Detective Inspector Godfrey Watson said the body was found mid-morning today by police victim recovery dogs.

Police have been searching the river banks for Walsh, who allegedly shot a police officer on the evening of November 15.

Mr Watson said it was too early to provide a positive identification of the body.

"The body is in a state of decay and it may take a few days before we can positively identify who it is," he said in a statement.

"However, a weapon was found near the body."

Police would not be making any further comment until the body had been positively identified, he said.

Constable Warren Smith and another officer had stopped Mr Walsh for speeding when Mr Smith was shot in the shoulder.

Mr Walsh's abandoned vehicle was found near the banks of the river, which flows through the orchard district of Twyford, that day but no sign had been seen of him since.

On Friday, burglars armed with a cricket bat and a softball bat were chased from the orchard property of the missing Hastings businessman.

Mr Walsh, who in 1997 used a gun to frogmarch two burglars away from his cables business in Hastings, had been reported to have been living for about the last two years at the property where he grew up.

His widowed mother still lives on the property and other members of the family have been living there also since Mr Walsh disappeared.

- NZPA