Body Washes Up On Beach At Hayling Island
Police are working to identify the body of a man which was washed up on a beach at Hayling Island on New Year's Day.
The body, which is believed to have been in the water for up to a week, was found by a member of the public on the beach near to the junction of Southwood Road and Bosmere Road at around 8.56am.
The body is that of a white man thought to be aged between 50 and 60 years, about 6ft 5ins in height and of stocky build.
He has crew-cut receding grey hair and was wearing a set of dentures on the upper right portion of his mouth.
He was dressed in a black shirt, Easy (brand name) jeans, brown coloured Chelsea-style boots – size 44 – and wore a black plastic Casio digital watch.
Police are hoping to identify him through a number of tattoos, including a skull and crossbones on his right upper arm, a dagger through a heart with scrolls top and bottom with the words 'mum & dad' on his lower inside right
arm as well as an eagle head with a scroll saying 'Eric' and a skull wearing a Native American Indian headdress.
On his right forearm there is a bird tattoo, on the upper part of his left arm there is a tattoo of the Welsh feathers with the words 'Forever Wales' and on the lower left arm a black panther, a skull, horns and a face.
DI Scott Clarke of Hampshire Constabulary, said:
"We're very keen to establish the identity of this man and would appeal to anyone who may recognise either the description of the clothes he was wearing or his numerous tattoos,
to get in touch.
"There is nothing to suggest this man is local, and for that reason we are focussing right along the coast incorporating Both Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Devon and Cornwall, Dorset and up to Wales."
Detectives are treating the man's death as unexplained. A post-mortem examination has been conducted and police are awaiting test results.
Anyone with any information regarding the identity of the man, is asked to contact Hampshire Constabulary on 101 or, if calling from outside of Hampshire 0845 045 45 45.
