Rose Polge: fears grow for junior doctor after hoodie found

Police investigating the disappearance of Dr Rose Polge have found a hooded top washed up on a beach close to where her car was found on Friday night.

The junior doctor from Torquay, in Devon, was last seen leaving Torbay hospital on Friday afternoon.

Extensive searches have taken place in the area around Ansteys Cove, a shingle beach backed by hillside with thick woodland, The Guardian reports.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Polge's car was discovered in a car park near the cove at 6pm on Friday, and a police helicopter, a drone and divers took part in a search across the shoreline last night.

Police have yet to establish whether the top found belongs to the missing woman.

A friend of Polge's told The Sun newspaper the medic was under strain from "working long hours".

They added: "It's thought she disappeared halfway through her shift on Friday, which is very concerning.

"Rose was always cheerful and worked incredibly hard to get where she was."

The police have told local media they do not suspect any foul play in her disappearance.

"We are not looking at this time at any criminality," Inspector Simon Jenkinson told the Torquay Herald Express. "We don't consider there is any evidence she has been abducted and we are concentrating on where her car was found in Ansteys cove car park."

He added: "I am not aware of anybody hearing a scream or anything like that and we are not thinking anybody else is involved. We are not able to give details of her frame of mind.

"The only person who really knows why she has gone missing is Rose. The basis of our involvement is we are looking for a missing person and are keeping an open mind about the circumstances."

Polge is described as being 5ft 2ins with brown eyes and long black hair, either worn loose or in a ponytail. She supported the junior doctors' strike on Facebook by posting a profile picture with the hashtag #notfairnotsafe.

She also shared a link to a petition asking the British Medical Association to support industrial action based on Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt's proposed contract changes.