Mystery of murder victim found in the sea...with iron shoes
NEARLY 30 years after his weigheddown body was found in the North Sea, police have released a fresh image of a possible murder victim to try and identify him.
The mystery began when his corpse was pulled from the water off the archipelago of Heligoland on July 11 1994. The man, now known as The Gentleman, had suffered several violent blows to the head.
He had been weighed down with two cast iron “lasts” used by shoemakers and made by A J Jackson of Kingswood, Bristol which ceased operations in the mid-1960s.
He wore size 11 black or navy handmade Church’s leather loafers, repaired with Phillips soles.
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The shoes also had replacement heels made by Bristol firm Dinkie Heel with the inscription I.T.S. Jubilee and a stylised crown.
The middle-aged man is believed to have been dead for up to seven months when he was found.
Police in Wilhelmshaven, northwest Germany, exhumed the body last year and the man’s DNA profile is being checked with international databases. He was 6ft 5in and was thought to be between 45 and 50.
A spokesman said of the picture, based on a face reconstruction: “Does the image resemble someone you used to know... or you have lost contact with?”
The man wore a dark blue Marks
and Spencer tie with grey, brown, orange and green stripes. It may be a regimental or school tie. His navy trousers were made in France.
He may have been thrown off a ship or pushed out to sea from land.
German police are being helped
by the Locate International missing persons charity in London.
Forensic psychologists from Goldsmiths, University of London, Staffordshire University and Plymouth Marjon University have been drafted in too.