POLICE investigating Leah Croucher’s murder have identified a body found in an abandoned home as the missing teen.
A murder probe was launched last week after the remains and Leah’s belongings were found in an attic in Furzton.
Officers confirmed today the remains belong to the teen, who vanished in February 2019.
A post-mortem was inconclusive with further tests being carried out to establish a cause of death.
Senior Investigating Officer Detective Superintendent Kevin Brown, the Head of the Major Crime Unit, said: “The thoughts of all of us at Thames Valley Police remain and will always be with Leah’s family and friends.
“The entirety of our investigation keeps them uppermost in our minds, and they continue to be supported by specially trained officers and updated on every development.
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“After a difficult process, we are now in a position to formally confirm that the body found in Loxbeare Drive last week is that of Leah.”
The development comes after police made the unusual decision last week to name Neil Maxwell as their prime suspect in Leah’s murder.
The convicted sex offender had carried out maintenance work at the property in Furzton from November 2018.
He took his own life on April 20, 2019, after officers made 18 attempts to arrest him.
Maxwell was the only person to have keys to the property while the owners, who are not involved in the case, were away.
There are now fears Leah may have been held captive at the address for weeks before she was killed.
She was last seen on February 15, 2019, in Milton Keynes as she walked to work in a finance firm.
The teen told her family the day before she was meeting a friend but that never happened.
CCTV showed her walking down Buzzacott Lane in Furzton, believed to be in the direction of her work, at about 8.15am the next day.
The house at the centre of the murder probe is just 0.4miles from where Leah’s last movements were captured.
It is also near Furzton Lake, where the teen’s phone left the network – consistent with it being destroyed – at 8.34am.
Tragically, Leah’s brother Haydon Croucher, 24, ended his life in 2019 after being “tortured” by not knowing what happened to his sister.
Until last Monday when the tip came in about the unoccupied home, there was no link between Maxwell and Leah.
The fiend was wanted by police at the time of Leah’s disappearance in connection with the sexual assault in Newport Pagnell in November 2018.
This was reported to Bedfordshire Police on November 29, 2018, but was then transferred to Thames Valley Police that day.
Officers attempted to arrest him the following day at a home in Milton Keynes but he was not there.
His name was placed on the police database the following month and a public appeal was shared on April 4, 2019.
DSI Brown said: “The grief and shock of Leah’s family and friends is unimaginable, and they have shown enormous courage, patience and dignity over the last three years and eight months while our search for Leah continued.
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“Our investigations into Leah’s murder will leave no stone unturned, and we owe it to Leah’s family to ensure we find the truth.
“We are absolutely committed to doing so, to allow them to gain an understanding of what happened to Leah.”
