Police release e-fit image to identify stowaway who fell from plane into London garden
Police have released an e-fit image of a stowaway who fell from the landing gear compartment of a plane, as the hunt for his identity continues almost four months later.
The man fell from the aircraft, operated by Kenyan Airways, into a back garden in Clapham, south London, and narrowly missed a sunbather.
Pictures of a bag that was found in the compartment and its contents have also been released.
A statement from the Metropolitan Police said: “Work continues to establish the man’s identity.
"Officers believe the man to be Kenyan but are keeping an open mind.
“The strap of the bag had the distinctive lettering ‘MCA’ written onto it, and the bag also contained a small amount of Kenyan currency.
"The e-fit shows a logo on a top that the man had been wearing.”
Police were called to the address in Offerton Road at 3.39pm on Sunday, June 30, earlier this year, following reports that a body had been discovered.
A post-mortem examination of the man, believed to have been in his 30s, gave the cause of death as multiple injuries, though police say they are not treating the death as suspicious.
It was previously speculated that he may have been an airport worker.
The director general of the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, Gilbert Kibe, told BBC Africa: “Whoever it is most likely had access to the airside because with the way security is tight, it’s unlikely that an outsider would have been able to make his way through to the airside where an aeroplane is parked and be able to climb in.
“I’m suspecting it’s probably somebody who had access to the airside.”
Detective Sergeant Paul Graves, of the South Central Command Unit, said that a number of lines of inquiry had been investigated in what had been a “very sad” incident.
“This man has a family somewhere who need to know what has happened to their loved one.
“Our investigation has included liaison with the authorities in Kenya, from where the flight took off, but so far our efforts to identify this man have proved fruitless."
The Met hopes that the e-fit image will be recognised by someone known to the deceased, who will make contact.