A dark mass lying on a rocky patch of ground leading upwards from the shore came closer into view. There was no doubt it was Mosley.

A purple umbrella, the key item that officers had used to trace Mosley’s five-kilometre route via CCTV footage, lay nearby.

Bar staff further down to the beach began frantically calling the police.

Twenty minutes later, a small boat ferrying forensic experts along with several police officers, arrived at the scene.

We watched as one police officer, in his haste to reach the remains, injured his leg after trying to vault over a stone wall and had to be stretchered away by colleagues.

Half a dozen uniformed firefighters quickly followed in tow, bringing an orange stretcher.

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For 40 minutes, forensic experts examined the scene and searched through the contents of Mosley’s black backpack, which lay about six metres away.

His body was then taken away on a stretcher and carried by four firefighters onto a boat to be taken to Rhodes for a post-mortem.

All the while, holidaymakers at the opposite end of the resort continued to sunbathe and swim in the sea, seemingly oblivious to what was unfolding. A group of young Italian men played water polo with an inflatable football.

For some of the resort staff it was business as usual as they continued to take food and drink orders from the beachgoers.

Shock and disbelief was etched across Tsavaris’ face as he questioned why rescuers had not found the body earlier.

“They had searched that area every day with helicopters,” he said.

The day before, one of the three firefighters who had scoured The Abyss, near to where Mosley was found, had only one word to say when asked about the success of that 40-minute search. “Nothing,” he replied, drenched in sweat.

Asked whether they had any further idea on where Mosley could be, he replied despondently: “Everywhere.”

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Tsavaris, recounting the discovery of Mosley, said: “You don’t see a dead body every day; it is not a war zone. It’s summer – you are supposed to have fun and swimming.”

When asked how he was coping in the aftermath of the discovery, he simply replied “OK” with an accompanying thumbs up before walking away to take orders from the customers.

The Telegraph, London