Patrick Cody

Divers were set to resume the search today for a man who is missing, feared drowned, after going swimming in a fishing lake at a hotel and country club on the Shropshire border.

Patrick Cody disappeared just hours after a wedding reception at Patshull Park Hotel & Country Club in Pattingham on Friday night.

Mr Cody, 26, had given a joint speech as one of three best men following the wedding of friends David and Sarah Abbiss.

His clothes were found by a jetty in front of the hotel.

Searches continued over the weekend in the mile-long 35ft deep pool at the hotel and divers from Nottingham were continuing the search this morning.

Today Mr Cody’s uncle Bill Cody, 57, said: “We have this desperate hope that Patrick will be found in bushes but I think we know in our heart of hearts that he probably didn’t survive.

“We are all reconciled to the fact that it was 11pm on Friday when he went missing, so it would be a miracle if he was to be found alive now.”

The missing man lived with his parents Dennis and Liz Cody in Sedgley, in the Black Country, and was planning to do a teacher training course in September.

He also has a sister Anna, 27.

The missing man attended mass at St Chad’s and All Saints Church in Sedgley most Sundays.

Shock

Special prayers were led there yesterday by the Reverend Joseph Narikuzhi, who conducted the wedding of Mr Cody’s friends on Friday.

Mr Narikuzhi said: “People had tears in their eyes, they are so sad about what has happened.

“Patrick was a very nice man and a pleasant fellow. We are all in shock.”

Mr Cody, a former mayor of Dudley in 1997, added: “Everyone loved Patrick, he was one of those characters you couldn’t not like.

“He would listen to me ranting on about politics for hours and pretend he was interested.

“He was just the life and soul of everywhere he went. This such a terrible shock for us all.”

His uncle said: “The family was such a great unit and it’s hard to believe that he will be taken out of the equation. For him to be taken away so cruelly really is horrendous.”