Police find body of missing elderly man in Newcastle

NSW police have found the body of a missing elderly man near Newcastle.

Stanley Kourousis, 75, disappeared from his Shortland home at 8.30pm on Thursday.

Local police searched extensively for Mr Kourousis, who suffered from dementia and did not have his medication with him.

Last night they received reports a man's body had been spotted in a mangrove swamp near Ash Island in Hexham.

Police retrieved Mr Kourousis' body from the swamp at about 10pm with assistance from an SES boat.

A report will be prepared for the coroner and a post mortem will take place to determine the cause of death, but at this stage police are not treating it as suspicious.