Girl, 16, found dead after last being seen in cemetery where she saw her 17-year-old assault victim friend buried days earlier

Ciara Witt went missing from home Friday and was found dead Saturday
Went missing two days after attending funeral of Jack Gudge, killed in July
Mr Gudge, 17, was assaulted outside Tesco Express and died in hospital
Ciara was found dead on Saturday in street where she lived, police say

Published: 19:54 GMT, 6 November 2016 | Updated: 00:30 GMT, 7 November 2016

e-mail

A 16-year-old girl last seen in a cemetery where she saw a close friend buried two days before has been found dead.

Ciara Witt attended the funeral of Jack Gudge, 17, on Wednesday, who died in hospital after being assaulted outside a Tesco Express near Bournemouth in July.

Miss Witt, 16, was reported missing by her family on Friday evening and was last at the cemetery that night but was found dead at her own home 24 hours later.

Ciara Witt (left) was found dead days after she attended the funeral of close friend Jack Gudge (right), 17, on Wednesday, who died in hospital after being assaulted in July

Miss Witt, 16, was reported missing by her family on Friday evening and was last at the cemetery where she had attended the funeral (pictured)

Police say that she was found at an address on Rochester Road, Weste Howe, Bournemouth, the street where she lived with her family.

Miss Witt was found 24 hours after her family reported her missing from the family home in in Rochester Road, West Howe, Bournemouth at about 10.15am on Friday.

Detectives said that the Dorset Coroner had been told of Ciara's death but the incident it was not being treated as suspicious.

The 16-year-old girl vanished after telling the family she was going to catch a bus. She was last seen in the cemetery.

Ciara's mother, Melanie Witt, told police that she went missing at about 11am on Friday and they contacted police at 11.30pm that evening.

A spokesman for Dorset Police said today said that they received the report on Saturday evening to say that Ciara's body had been found.

She was last seen at Kinson Cemetery, near Bournemouth, Dorset, on Friday night but was found dead on Saturday evening

Jack Gudge (whose funeral on Wednesday is pictured) died at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital on July 16 after the assault

They said that the body was found on the street but have refused to clarify if she was found in her own home.

After her friend Jack Gudge died, three men and a boy were arrested and have all been released without charge but a fourth remains on police bail.

The men were aged 27, 24 and 23 years old. The boy was said to be 15.

Jack died at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital on July 16 after the assault outside a Tesco Express shop in Wimborne Road, Winton, near Bournemouth.

He was assauilted outside a Tesco Express shop in Wimborne Road (pictured in July), Winton

He was found unconscious after the attack and died soon after.

A spokesman for Dorset Police said: 'In consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service three of the four people arrested in relation to the investigation into the death of 17-year-old Jack Gudge have been released from police bail with no further action.

'A fourth arrested person, a 24-year-old man from Bournemouth, remains on police bail pending further inquiries.'

It was understood that a post mortem examination is to be carried out on the body of Ciara Witt and that an inquest will be opened and adjourned in Bournemouth by the East Dorset Coroner, Sheriff Payne.