THE devastated daughter of a man who disappeared a week ago today spoke about the discovery of a body in the River Brun and said: "Dad is dead."

Derek Horne, 54, a former worker at TRW Engineering, Burnley, left his family home in Irene Street, Burnley last Friday after suffering from despression..

At around 4pm yesterday afternoon, police received a call from a 12-year-old girl who said she had seen what appeared to be a body in the Brun, near to Netherwood Road.

Police later pulled a man's body from the river. They said there were no suspicious circumstances or signs of violence.

A spokesman for Burnley Police said: "A body has been found and removed from the River Brun.

"At this stage we cannot reveal the identity until a formal identification has been made."

But Derek's daughter Michelle, 28, also of Irene Street, today confirmed her father's body had been found. She said she was too upset to talk about the matter further.

Since Derek's disappearance, his wife Eileen, 51, Michelle and son Michael, who has two children, have been searching the streets of Burnley in a bid to find him.

Derek had recently become a grandad for the second time.

Michael's newly-born daughter Madison was in hospital in Manchester at the time of his disappearance.

Before yesterday's news the family had planned to visit Blackpool at the weekend to continue the search for him.

Derek and Eileen spent a lot of time in the seaside resort, and the family was clinging to the hope that he had gone there.

Just a few hours before the grim discovery, Eileen said: "You don't want to think the worst, and we are trying to stay positive. You would think that someone would have seen him, but nothing has been reported.

"We are just trying to get through this and stay positive. Everyone is doing all they can."

The family said Derek had been depressed and on anti-depressant tablets for a number of weeks after taking early retirement from TRW Engineering, Heasandford Industrial Estate, last year.

A post mortem examination was expected to be carried out today.