A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a body was found by Essex police searching for a woman who disappeared while making her rounds as a payday loan collector.
Mother-of-two Tina Cantello, 49, was reported missing by her family on Friday evening when she failed to return home from her work.
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Essex Police said a body was found at a property in Langdon Hills, Basildon, at around 6pm on Saturday.
A 38-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in police custody.
James Taylor, the boyfriend of Cantello’s daughter, told news site Essex Live that the loan collector, who was just 4ft 11in tall, had left home on Friday afternoon to make three collections.
“She made contact with her first two jobs and then on the way to her third one we think she went missing,” he said.
“[Police] found her phone on the side of the road and they think the phone was thrown out of a car. There is a woodland area nearby and police did search that area too.”
A friend of Cantello visiting the scene to lay flowers yesterday told the Telegraph that she had been working for a company called Provident.
Emma Lee, 34, added: “She was a bubbly, lovely and caring lady. I don’t understand how anyone would want to hurt her.”