Unidentified Male

The body of an unidentified man was found on land off Halse Lane, near Winsford Hill, in Exmoor National Park on 13 March 2002.

It was thought that he had been dead for at least two years and in was estimated that his death had taken place in September 1999.

It was also thought that his body had been put there between May 2001 and January 2002.

His remains were badly decomposed, and his cause of death was stated as being unknown, but it was said that he had likely suffered a serious assault, possibly with a sharp or bladed object.

He was said to have been aged between 25 to 35, between 5ft 8in and 5ft 9in tall, had black or very dark brown hair and to have been from the Mediterranean, Middle East, or North Africa, although his ethnicity could not be determined.

It was noted that he had had distinctive dental work done at least a year before his death.

When he was found he had been wearing a pair of blue Adidas shorts and blue and white boxer shorts. He had also been wearing a gold chain said to be worth £100 that had a 22-carat gold pendant on it, with verse number 225 from the Koran inscribed in Arabic across it which was made in Pakistan.

When his body was found it was in several pieces and was wrapped up in black plastic bags, a green single bed sheet and a single duvet. There was also a white pillowcase in the wrappings that was found to have been used by a linen hire service that supplied hotels and restaurants throughout the South West of England as well as a stereo wire that it was thought he might have been tied up with.

Forensic analysis of isotopes in his bones led scientists to state that he had probably spent time in the area bounded by Bristol, Poole, Plymouth and Bude. Other forensic analysis indicated that he had lived in the South West of England for about 10 years and that he could have travelled around the Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset counties.

The police said that they thought that someone in the region would have known him.