Body pulled from docks is missing company director ‘Wonderful father’ missing since 2005

Jul 2 2009 by Alan Weston, Crosby Herald

THE body of a man pulled from a dock has been confirmed to be a Mersey Docks and Harbour Company director who went missing nearly four years ago.

Bernard Cook was 54 when he disappeared from his office on November 16, 2005.

On May 15, a body was pulled from Bootle’s Sandon Half Tide Dock in Regent Road. Foltests, police have now confirmed that it was Mr Cook.

The father-of-two was the company’s estates director, based at Seaforth.

He had left his home as usual in the morning, but failed to return home from work.

He was last seen when he left his car at work before taking a white Peugeot 206 van.

Confirmation of the body’s identity marks the end of an agonising wait for his wife, Bernadette, who works as a teacher, and their two children Andrew, 24, and Clare, 26.

Police were initially called to the dock following the discovery of a submerged vehicle, with a body inside. Mr Cook’s identity was confirmed after checks on dental records were carried out.

An inquest has been opened and adjourned into Mr Cook’s death, and is due to be heard on July 21.

Mr Cook, described as a “caring and loving” man by his wife, was a keen climber who had been the subject of several emotional appeals for information after he went missing.

A religious man, he loved the countryside.

Speaking during an appeal for information in 2008, Mrs Cook described her husband as “a most loving, kind, wonderful father,” and “a selfless man.”

She said that he had been under considerable pressure at work for some time, which may have played a part in his disappearance.

Police appeals nationwide, a search of Liverpool docks, and “missing” adverts on the sides of lorries, had all failed to find Mr Cook, who hailed from from Higher Bebington, Wirral.

He was a member of a 1977 Merseyside Himalayan Expedition and he had scaled some of the highest peaks in the world.

Meticulous checks of his bank and mobile phone records showed no accessing of his accounts after his disappearance.