Detectives searching for a man suspected of shooting a mother-of-two outside a pub on Valentine’s Day have recovered a body from the River Thames.
Edvard Smith is thought to have gunned down Lisa Smith, 43, who was with a female friend when killed outside the Three Horseshoes pub in Knockholt, Kent.
Edvard – her partner – was the main suspect and police were not looking for anybody else.
He is believed to have driven to the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge near Dartford ten miles away and jumped in the river.
Police have today announced a body was found on Friday at around 3.45pm near Rainham.
A Kent Police spokesman said: ‘A body has been recovered by police from the River Thames, which is being linked to a murder investigation in Knockholt.
‘On Friday 14 February 2025, Lisa Smith, 43, was killed after she was shot outside a pub in Main Road. The suspect was known to Lisa and later that evening officers found his car abandoned on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. Enquiries established he had fallen into the water below.
‘At around 3.45pm on Friday 7 March, a body was located near Rainham, Essex. Formal identification has not yet taken place; however, the man’s family have been informed.’
Edvard Smith (left) is thought to have gunned down Lisa Smith (right) who was with a female friend when killed outside the Three Horseshoes pub in Knockholt, Kent
Lisa, 43, was shot in the picturesque village of Knockholt, Kent, as shocked couples were settling down for romantic candlelit dinners
A police cordon was set up at the Three Horseshoes pub after emergency services were called to the scene on Valentine’s Day
We reported last month how Edvard called his best friend Leslie Thompson to dramatically confess to gunning down his wife Lisa outside a pub as she enjoyed a night out with two women friends.
Mr Thompson told how he felt helpless after receiving the harrowing call from Edvard telling him: ‘She’s dead. I can’t live – we’ve all gone together. I’ll see you on the other side.’
Mr Thompson, 53, said his friend was sobbing uncontrollably as he told him he ‘loved him’ and believed that he was going to be shot dead by armed police.
He told MailOnline: ‘He told me what he had done and I could not speak.’
The dramatic account comes as police and coastguard teams continue to search for a body along stretches of the River Thames close to the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge in Dartford, Kent.
Police found a handgun inside Edvard’s car which was found abandoned on the bridge while eye-witnesses told how they saw a man clambering over barriers before plunging more than 170 feet into the freezing water below.
Friends and relatives have told how they were left ‘bewildered’ by the tragedy which is thought to have happened just days after the couple celebrated becoming grandparents for the first time.
Some speculated that the couple had argued and had decided not to spend the special evening together – but found it inexplicable that the night could have ended in bloodshed.
Troubled Edvard Smith called his best friend Leslie Thompson to dramatically confess to gunning down his wife Lisa outside a pub as she enjoyed a night out with two women friends. Pictured: Leslie Phillips and his wife, below, and Lisa and Edvard Smith, above
After the killing, Edvard – who was also known by the surname Stockings and is believed to have worked in the motor trade – drove 15 miles to the bridge where it is thought he made his dramatic confession. Pictured: With Mr Thompson
The couple, from Slough, Berks, were parents to a nine-year-old son and Teejay, 19 – who is thought to have recently become a father.
Lisa, 43, was gunned down outside the Three Horseshoes pub in the picturesque village of Knockholt, Kent, as shocked couples were settling down for romantic candlelit dinners.
As she and her friends prepared to climb into a waiting car at 7pm up to four gunshots rang out.
Shocking CCTV footage of the road obtained by MailOnline show the moment pub goers began screaming in terror before a vehicle is seen driving away from the pub’s car park.
In a harrowing cry a woman can be heard screaming: ‘He’s killed her.’
After the killing, Edvard – who was also known by the surname Stockings and is believed to work in the motor trade – drove 15 miles to the bridge where it is thought he made his dramatic confession.
Mr Thompson, who is Lisa’s cousin, told MailOnline how he was left in disbelief after receiving the traumatic phone call from his friend of more than 30 years at 8.50pm – less than two hours after the shooting.
He said: ‘I was dumbstruck, I was absolutely dumbfounded. I just couldn’t make sense of any of it.
Friends and relatives have told how they were left ‘bewildered’ by the tragedy which is thought to have happened just days after the couple celebrated becoming grandparents for the first time. Pictured: Mr Thompson, his wife and Edvard sharing a meal
Smith drove 13 miles to Queen Elizabeth II Bridge near Dartford and is believed to have jumped into the Thames. His car was discovered abandoned with a handgun was inside. His body has not been found
The dramatic account came as police and coastguard teams searched for a body along stretches of the River Thames close to the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge in Dartford, Kent. Pictured: Edvard and Lisa Smith
‘I was too frightened to even say ‘come to me’ if I want to be honest – I’ve got five grandchildren, and I’ve just got a brand new one who’s only weeks old.
‘He told me what he had done and I could not speak. I had my grandbaby in my hands and I did not know what to say. I couldn’t make head or tail of it.
‘He put me in shock – he’s left me in shock ever since.
‘I’d heard the news about 20 minutes before and I thought it can’t be right – where’s he got a gun from? It doesn’t make sense.
‘And then, next thing, he’s ringing me and as quick as I answered the phone, I just said, ‘Is it right? ‘He went, ‘Yeah’. He said, I’ll be gone in a minute.
‘He said: ‘Les, I love you, your wife and kids, and I’ll see you on the other side, and I’m going to die.’ He was so determined.
‘Look, me and my wife’s gone together. My dad’s already dead. We’ve all gone together. I’ll see you on the other side.’
‘I just cut him off, he started crying really bad. I filled up with tears myself – I just felt so helpless.’
Some speculated that the couple had argued and had decided not to spend the special evening together – but found it inexplicable that the night could have ended in bloodshed
Mr Thompson, 53, said his friend was sobbing uncontrollably as he told him he ‘loved him’ and believed that he was going to be shot dead by armed police. Pictured: Lisa and Edvard Smith
Mr Thompson, who works as a roofer, said loved ones were at a loss to explain the catastrophic events of the night of the tragedy.
He said he believed Edvard had never got over his father’s death and had suffered a mental health crisis.
He said: ‘He was like a brother, he was closer than my own brothers to me, and she genuinely really was like a sister to me. I thought the world of them. It’s absolutely devastated me.
‘He was an upright man, he had a breakdown. He had to have had a nervous breakdown to do what he done because it wasn’t like him. He’s got two kids and everything.
‘The only thing I can put it down to is he had to have had a very, very, very bad nervous breakdown.
‘He lost his dad two years ago. He was really, really close to his dad and he was never, ever the same. I’d seen a change in him but nobody saw this coming. He’d ring me on a night crying on the phone.
‘Money was definitely not his problem. He had a good job and everything – that was the last of his problems, and why would you kill your wife as well?
‘It’s hurt me more than anything. It’s like my sister getting killed and brother being killed in one day. She wasn’t like a normal woman, she idolised her children. Those two boys were their lives.
Pubgoers screamed in terror as four blasts rang out. A vehicle was then seen leaving the car park of the Three Horseshoes Pub in Knockholt, Kent
‘She’d never done no wrong. She was a proper, upright woman, a good mother, a good wife. It just doesn’t make sense.
‘They must have had their own issues, we all have our own issues when you close the door, but whatever it was none of us could see it coming. Men and women argue but do not to go to this extent.’
Trying to come to terms with the tragedy Mr Thompson added: ‘They haven’t found his body yet but I know one million per cent that it is in that river.
‘He definitely has done it. He had tunnel vision, there was no turning him out of it or anything. I had to cut him off. I just couldn’t take no more.’
Son Teejay also appeared to be in turmoil in the aftermath of the tragedy.
In an apparently conflicted message posted on social media he described his father as ‘a proper man’ who ‘went out a legend’.
He added of his mother: ‘My dear old mum – never be another to walk in her shoes – the best’.
Meanwhile in Knockholt, residents were struggling to come to terms with the tragedy.
The pub’s landlady, Michelle Thomas, revealed 30 people were at the pub for dinner, while 20 more were in the bar as the incident unfolded just after 7pm
A number of floral tributes have been left at the scene by friends and relatives as a tribute to Lisa.
Michelle Thomas, who runs the village pub where the shooting happened, said the community is in ‘absolute shock’.
She told how she was printing off menus and preparing for the Valentine’s dinner service when she heard two loud bangs which she initially thought were ‘fireworks’.
Describing the drama that unfolded she said: ‘There was so much commotion – screaming, shouting, crying. People were outside, on their phones. We tried to get people inside the pub.’
She said that when the shooting happened around 30 people were having dinner in the pub, while 20 more were in the bar.
She said: ‘People were only just starting to sit down, it was early on in the evening’
The landlady described how an off-duty firearms officer intervened, calling him ‘amazing’ as he helped get the situation under control.
Detectives investigating the double tragedy said police had had no prior contact with the victim or the suspect.
Two relatives of Ms Smith, who had been living in Slough Berkshire, visited the pub to pay their respects at a floral shrine which had been set up close to the spot she died
Officers – who described Lisa’s murder as ‘senseless’ have concluded that Edvard is dead after falling from the bridge.
Detective Chief Inspector Dave Higham, of Kent Police, said: ‘We have carried out a full and extensive investigation into Lisa’s tragic murder and our enquiries have concluded that the suspect is believed to have died after falling into the River Thames.
‘Multiple searches of several areas of the river have since been assisted by the Metropolitan Police, London Fire Brigade and Coastguard, but at this stage we have not recovered a body.
‘These searches are ongoing and whilst our investigation will continue, we will be preparing our findings and reports to assist the coroner.
‘This murder has led to the senseless loss of a beloved daughter and mother and our thoughts remain with Lisa’s family.’
