Police express their thanks as man is identified 13 months after his body was found

The body of a man was found in a field at Dean Brook, near Horrobin Lane, in Rivington, on December 7, 2023.

Police liaised with other forces, the NCA and Interpol, used appeals, local inquiries, facial recognition, fingerprints and DNA, and commissioned an artist to produce images of what the man could have looked like when he was alive.

Their efforts led to the man being identified using familial DNA after relatives were located in another country.

His family has been informed but have asked that the man is not publicly identified.

His death is not being treated as suspicious and further work is being conducted to establish the cause of his death.

The work done by police to identify the man appeared on television in November on Channel 5’s Cause of Death, a documentary following Lancashire’s coroner, police, hospitals and others when someone dies suddenly or unexpectedly.

Det Insp Paul Price, of Lancashire Constabulary’s South CID, said: “We know that you will have seen a number of appeals over the last year, including on Cause of Death, and I wanted to be able to provide you with an update.

“I also wanted to thank you, the public, for all the assistance you have provided following our appeals in sharing information with us. Your assistance is invaluable in helping us with our enquiries, and I am so relieved that the man has now been identified and can be reunited with his loved ones.”