Lewes: Do You Know This Man?
5 January 2015, 11:51
The UK Missing Persons Bureau and Sussex Police are appealing to the public for information about an unidentified body found in East Sussex 15 years ago this week.
An artist's impression of the man's face and of tattoos on his forearms has been published on both websites.
It is believed that the dead man was aged between 50 and 65. He was discovered on 4 January 2000, face down in a shallow stream, Winterbourne Stream, behind Haredean Hamsey allotments in Lewes.
He was 5'7", of thin build, with a pale complexion, short thinning red greying hair, a moustache, and blue eyes.
A tattoo on his left forearm shows a cross and underneath it the letters MBM or MAM. The right forearm has a tattoo of a naked woman and underneath it an orange and white symbol
With the body were found a blue baseball cap, a small amount of cash, a plastic comb, a disposable razor, two keys and a set of blue rosary type beads with a white cross.
He wore a longsleeved maroon shirt with blue checks, grey trousers and black socks. A pair of tan coloured size 43 slip-on shoes were found nearby.
The cause of death was bronchopneumonia.There were no suspicious circumstances and an inquest in 2000 recorded an open verdict.
An artist's impression compiled recently by the UK's National Missing Persons Bureau shows a facial reconstruction of what the victim would have looked like before he died. To view the appeal on their website, including the artists' impression, see http://www.missingpersons.police.uk/en/case/03-000102
If you have any information that may help identify this man you can contact the UK Missing Persons Bureau via missingpersonsbureau@nca.x.gsi.gov.uk or 0845 000 5481, or by contacting Sussex Police via email 101@sussex.pnn.police.ukor call 101 quoting serial 184 of 31/12/14.
Detective Inspector Jon Gross said; "We have worked with the Bureau to put this case on their website because we know that they have recently started publicising such cases on the site, and because in this case they have also been able to develop a good artist's impression of the man.
"Even after all these years it would be good to identify him and give any relatives some peace of mind and closure.
"We do consider publicising unidentified bodies in this way, on the basis of a case by case assessment."