LARNACA police recovered the body of a missing British woman yesterday at the bottom of a 15-metre deep ravine..

Mother of five, Julie Luca, 45, a Cypriot citizen and Oroklini resident had gone missing at 7pm on Tuesday night.

At 8am yesterday morning her body was discovered in a 15-metre-deep ravine in the Elias Area, just 500 metres from her home by a passer who alerted the police. They cordoned off the area.

Asked about the cause of death, Larnaca Police spokesman Christos Andreou said: "The coroner will conduct an autopsy and issue his report on Thursday. It is not being treated as a crime, but we are investigating all possibilities. She is likely to have died from the fall."

He said that Nicolas Charalambous, a Forensic Examiner from the Nicosia Police, examined the scene and ruled out criminal causes.

"As I understand it, she would go missing quite often, and so her disappearance was not reported." he added

Luca, who is understood to have separated from her husband, leaves five children, aged 3 to 15 in the custody of their Cypriot father.