Appeal to identify man 27 years after body found on riverbank near Bristol

A passport picture of the man when he was younger was found on the body. Credit: Locate International

Investigators are appealing for help in identifying a man whose body was found near Bristol more than 25 years ago.

On Sunday 19 May 1996, the body of the man was found on the bank of the River Avon.

Investigators at Locate International say they believe he had fallen from the nearby Clifton Suspension Bridge, but despite a number of public appeals he has never been identified.

The charity has now created a new e-fit of how the man may have looked in life, in an attempt to finally identify him.

A new image of what the man looked like at the time of his death Credit: Locate international/Hew Morrison

The man was found with a few distinctive items with him:

  • A cardboard sign with a handwritten message saying ‘Sleeping rough, thank you’

  • A red penny whistle

  • A copy of Thomas More’s ‘Utopia’, a satire dating to the early 16th Century – it wasmissing an outer cover and had the words ‘West Glamorgan County Council’ on thefirst page

  • A Holy Bible

  • A paperback copy of ‘The Greatest Batman Stories’

  • A Great Britain A-Z map

  • A Eurohike Adventure guide map

  • Silk Cut cigarettes

  • A blank Barclays giro slip

He was also carrying a passport-sized photo of himself as a young man. The man was white, of medium build and was thought to be aged between 25 and 35 years old.

He was approximately 6ft (185cm) tall, with blue eyes. He wore a black sweatshirt andjacket, blue ‘Lee Riders’ jeans and brown boots. 

Dave Grimstead, Locate International’s CEO and co-founder, said: “We believe he must have been visiting somewhere or travelling around.

“So we’re confident someone, somewhere must have interacted with him, or remembered him.

“That might have been in the Bristol area or anywhere else in the UK. Ask yourself if this issomeone you encountered – maybe on the street, busking with a penny whistle, or whiletravelling around the country.

“He could well have been an interesting and memorable man to talk to, with a range ofinterests, so someone out there must remember meeting him.”

The charity have also listed a number of events that took place around the time of his death, in the hope it could jog someone's memory.

  • It was a Sunday. The Monaco Grand Prix was on TV that afternoon – Olivier Panis wonhis only ever race.

  • The weekend before, Man United had beaten Liverpool 1-0 in the FA Cup final, EricCantona scoring the only goal.

  • Also on TV the night before was the Eurovision Song Contest, won by Eimear Quinn fromIreland with her song The Voice.

  • In the Sunday newspapers, there were reports of a pregnant nine-year-old girl and thatan IRA ceasefire was imminent.

  • The Bristol Evening Post front page that Saturday was about guards at a travellers camp being moved.

  • The international festival of the sea was to be held the following weekend in Bristol.