Police launch murder probe after grandfather found dead in Leamington river

Police have launched a murder investigation after Adam Lucas, a 51-year-old grandfather, was found dead in the river at Victoria Park in Leamington Spa and a post-mortem pointed to injuries consistent with an assault.

Warwickshire Police said officers were called at about 7.45am on Wednesday, 15 April 2026, after a member of the public spotted a body in the water. Paramedics attended the scene, but Adam Lucas was pronounced dead. The discovery at the park, beside the River Leam, quickly shifted from a sudden death inquiry to a homicide probe as detectives examined what happened in the hours before he was found.

A post-mortem carried out on Thursday, 16 April 2026, found that the 51-year-old died from injuries consistent with being assaulted. That finding led police to treat the death as suspicious and to open a murder investigation, with officers now working to establish how Lucas ended up in the river and who may have seen him in the area before dawn.

Lucas’s family described him as an “amazing” and loved father, grandfather, brother, uncle and cousin. In a tribute issued after his body was found, they said: “We’re all shocked and heartbroken.” The family’s words underline the scale of the loss behind a case that has now become a live murder inquiry in Warwickshire.

Investigators have also put out a witness appeal, asking anyone with information to come forward, especially anyone who was in the Victoria Park area from late Tuesday, 14 April, into Wednesday morning, 15 April 2026. That window is now central to the inquiry as detectives piece together Lucas’s last-known movements and the moments leading up to the discovery in the river.

The case has left Leamington Spa facing a grim escalation from a body found in parkland to a suspected killing. With the post-mortem pointing to violence and police actively seeking witnesses, the focus is now on establishing exactly what happened around Victoria Park before Adam Lucas was found dead.