ESSEX Police has defended its decision not to make a public appeal during a four day search for a missing Harlow man.

Bradley Wernham was last seen in the early hours of Sunday November 18th near the Plume of Feathers pub in Gilston.

He was reported missing on Monday November 19th.

Essex Police spent the next four days looking for Mr Wernham until their search was suspended following the discovery of a body in that area.

Friends and family have questioned why Essex Police, who often use and boast of their on-line presence (194k followers on Twitter and 175k likes on Facebook) did not reach out using these mediums in order to help trace Bradley.

An Essex Police spokesperson said: “We don’t always issue public appeals for missing people. It’s a decision taken on a case-by-case basis.

“There’s lots of other work that goes into a missing person investigation not just an appeal to the public and there was lots of work we were carrying out in relation to this particular investigation”.