THE grieving family of Ellis Downes has dismissed a police force's apology as "too little too late", after it admitted lacking compassion during its search for his body.

The body of the 16-year-old Harwell teenager was recovered by volunteer divers from the River Thames near Abingdon on Monday where he went missing on Saturday night.

Friends said they spotted him struggling in the water as he went swimming near The Burycroft in Culham after a barbecue on the riverbank.

Nikki Ross, assistant chief constable of Thames Valley Police, this morning apologised following a barrage of criticism over the way it handled the search for his body.

In a video statement released on the force's YouTube channel she said: "I am profoundly sorry for the treatment of the Downes family over the weekend in particular the level of support, compassion, the lack of information and communication that we afforded them and particularly to Mr and Mrs Downes and Ellis' two sisters."

Oxford Mail:

Ellis' family had previously slammed the force, claiming they turned away an experienced dive team which had turned up to recover his body, failed to provide them with immediate family liaison, and left them to ring for updates after officers failed to communicate.

The force initially refused to comment on the accusations but on Wednesday revealed it had referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, a national body which investigates police complaints.

Oxford Mail:

Ellis’ 48-year-old uncle, Didcot resident Spencer Jefferies, said: "It's too little too late. It shouldn't have happened in the first place - the search for Ellis was treated worse than if they had lost a dog. There was absolutely no compassion.

"They have just been humbled, they are on their knees hoping for the best. Anything not to make them look as bad, trying to cover their tracks."

He said Superintendent Rory Freeman had visited Ellis' parents at their home to apologise but had "ummed and ahhed" when Mr Jefferies asked if he would make it public.

Officers are said to have only permitted leading forensic dive team Specialist Group International into the water when Ellis' dad Darren stormed over to the riverside and threatened to jump in himself.

The force claimed the water was too murky and it was waiting on Met divers due to arrive the next day, excuses labelled a "waste of time" by SGI's chief diver Peter Faulding who said senior police had previously given his team the go-ahead. 

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Mr Downes' sister Alex, 19, (pictured centre with family friend Sharon Russell (left) and Theresa James, mother of Ellis' friend Luke James) said the force should be 'ashamed' of its response and added: "I am sure they feel embarassed and should feel ashamed by the appalling service they have provided during the investigation."

Nikki Ross added: "As a mother myself I can't begin to understand the distress that the family is feeling but I would expect more care and compassion to be shown to people in these circumstances.

"Our action and our inactions will be subject to a thorough investigation and we have referred ourselves ot the IPCC to ensure that that's done.

"Once again I apologise on behalf of TVP for any added distress that we've caused to the familiy at this very difficult time."

Ellis' 19-year-old sister Alex Downes said of the apology: "It's a start but means absolutely nothing with no actions to go with it."

A close friend of the family, who did not want to be named, added: "It's good that they apologised but I am wondering whether there is something behind it, if they think the IPCC won't investigate if they gave a full apology. To have gone from them making no comment to suddenly doing a video apology seems strange."

He suggested with the number of waterways in the region, Thames Valley needed to regain its dive team which was lost in 2014 as part of efforts to slash £45 million from the force's budget.

Police and crime comissioner Anthony Stansfeld, who is responsible for holding TVP to account, said he had been briefed on the case and that the force could have been more sensitive. 

He said: "The way the police handled the parents was probably not as good as it might have been.

"My heart goes out to the family. It's a truly tragic incident.

"The police have put out a statement and it's now over to the IPCC.

"I will be discussing this with the chief constable when we meet."

The IPCC said this afternoon it had not yet decided if it would investigate the case.