IT was the news his family had desperately hoped for, and the outcome they prayed would never happen.

More than ten weeks after vanishing in the city of Hamburg, missing Scot Liam Colgan was found yesterday, his body dragged from the frigid waters of the River Elbe.

The 29-year-old, from Inverness, was last seen during his brother Eamonn's stag celebrations in the German city in the early hours of February 10, before walking off into the night alone.

For more than two months his friends and family had clung to the hope that he had somehow lost his memory, and was wandering injured and confused as he tried to find his way home.

An appeal was launched to help trace the talented musician, attracting the support of thousands with the search eventually broadening out beyond Hamburg city centre, with sightings of the Scot investigated in Buxtehude 20 miles away and the suburb of Altona.

READ MORE: Body pulled from river in Hamburg is not missing Scot Liam Colgan, brother says

Yet hopes were dashed with the grim discovery of a body on Monday morning, with the news broken by the Lucie Blackman Trust.

The charity, which helps the families of those missing abroad, said: "The Lucie Blackman Trust is saddened to confirm that a body found in the River Elbe, Hamburg, is that of Liam Colgan, missing after attending his brother's stag weekend in the German city.

"Whilst formal identification is yet to be carried out, Mr Colgan's driving licence was in the pocket of the jacket, and the clothes were those he was wearing the night he disappeared.

"The trust asks that Mr Colgan's family be given space and privacy to grieve at this difficult time."

Little more could have been done to try and find Mr Colgan, with his brother Eamonn’s wedding to partner Susan Dolan postponed while the family co-ordinated the search.

The postman, who had been in charge of organising stag weekend’s festivities as best man,  had prepared a fun-filled itinerary of activities, with a football match and a trip to a brewery organised for the 18 friends and family who made the trip.

But he was to go missing during a visit to the notorious Reeperbahn, Hamburg’s red-light district and nightlife hotspot, during the first night in Germany.

READ MORE: Family appeal after unconfirmed sighting of missing Liam Colgan in German town

The group moved from bar to bar until the early hours of the morning, when they ended up in the Veermaster pub in the Baumwall area, close to the River Elbe, and Liam slipped away at some point after 1am.

When Eamonn, 33, a police officer in Dundee, realised his brother had vanished, he contacted police, and began a manhunt which would offer little but tantalising clues.

Many people go missing in the Reeperbahn, which is also home to strip clubs and brothels, and most return after a couple of days.

Initially police were unconcerned, and the family took to social media to rally support, circulating Liam’s picture widely online to media outlets while contacting hospitals and taxi companies to widen the search.

Eamonn and other family members returned to Hamburg on several occasions, scouring homeless shelters and handing out flyers across the city, including outside the hugely popular football match between SV Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen.

The investigation was given a boost when CCTV footage emerged showing a confused Liam being helped by a passerby at the G&J building in Baumwall after a fall about an hour after he left the bar.

There were also reports that he had passed a church in the St Pauli area of the city, where sniffer dogs later picked up his scent.

As the days passed there were other sightings, with a baker outside Hamburg claiming to have seen Mr Colgan four days after he disappeared looking “lost and confused” nearby.

He was also 'spotted' back in the Reeperbhan just two weeks ago, prompting his brother to return to Germany.

Yet all these clues turned out to be dead ends.

In an interview with BBC Radio Scotland, Eamonn described his brother as a "very laid back, very positive, a very proud and doting uncle to my two children".

Last night the family posted online to offer their thanks for the kind messages they had received, saying it was a "difficult" day.

Lucie Blackman Trust Chief executive Matthew Searle said: "An astonishing amount of support has been apparent in this case -the search for Liam has been joined by thousands of people, both German and British, and we would like to thank all of them for their support.

"Our thoughts are of course with Liam's family and friends today."