Three unidentified bodies found in London all had one major clue, so why are investigators still stuck?
More than 20 years ago, a body washed up along the River Thames with a simple note.
The body, which was found in May 2003, was that of a white man aged between 60 to 80-years-old.
And inside his pocket, a piece of paper simply reads: ‘My Name Is Patrick Jones. I have no relatives.’
Despite this, investigators from Locate International still do not know who this man is. And this is not their only baffling case of an ‘unidentified’ person with a name.
In 2011, the body of a young Asian male in his late twenties was found with an ID card revealing Varinder Singh.
Victoria Shepherd, head of investigations at Locate International, told Metro: ‘It is not unusual for people to be found with a note, but this does not make it any easier to identify them.
‘We do not know the reasonings behind these deaths – they could be accidental or suicidal.
‘But we have hit a wall after extensive international research, yet these men would not have gone through their lives not having made an impact.’
Investigators even have brand new images of two of the men as well as working on a third case with a name – but it is still not enough to identify who they are.
Harrow Road Man
In October 1983, an Asian male was hit and killed by a train in Kensington.
Mysteriously, the day before on October 5, he was treated at St Mary’s Hospital, in Harrow Road, for a cut to his head.
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He gave hospital staff the name Ali Hussain Levhi. But this has not proved useful for investigators.
Victoria said: ‘When we have had cases with names at hospitals, it’s hard to say if nurses wrote it down phonetically.
‘He was intoxicated and had a head injury so it could very much be wrong.’
Their search has taken them to data bases all the way in India as they have tried to truly put an identity to who this man was.
Victoria added: ‘He could have just been travelling through London as well, making it so much harder to pin him down.’
He was around 40 to 50-years-old, and was wearing a beige suit, with a red and white striped shirt and a grey jumper. His shoes were burgundy slip-ons and he was wearing a digital watch.
Mayflower Man
In May 2003, the body of a man aged between 60 and 80 was found floating in the Lower Pool area of the River Thames, adjacent to the Mayflower pub.
He was found with a note, which simply read: ‘My Name Is Patrick Jones. I have no relatives.’
But investigators have found six Patrick Joneses who were born in London and living around the same time frame, and there’s always a chance the man was not actually born in or living in the capital.
Victoria said: ‘A note technically does not mean much. There was no formal ID on him. But the good thing is we have the new image from the forensic artist, so we are really hoping someone recognises him.’
He was a white European, about 5ft 8in tall, with receding grey hair.
He was found wearing distinctive clothing, including a black suit jacket (size 42 made by ‘Lyncroft,’), a grey cardigan with a brown horizontal stripe across the chest, and black trousers.
He also had a white, round-necked vest, a brown plastic belt, black underpants (made by ‘Fml Underwear For Him’), grey flecked socks, and size 10.5 brown lace-up boots.
Ballast Quay Man
In January 2011, the body of a young Asian man aged in his late twenties was also found in the River Thames in Greenwich.
He had been in the water for around seven days before being found in Ballast Quay.
He had an Italian driving licence – with a photo – an NHS card, a Selco trade card, a T Mobile top-up card, a TV licence card, and a photograph of a female.
His NHS ID card was Varinder Singh, but this name has not been verified.
The cards contained a number of different addresses. But when police visited the addresses, the residents did not know who the man was.
Victoria said: ‘We do not think the documentation was correct.’
The man also had a tattoo of the name ‘Kamal’, on the outside of his upper right arm. The name Kamal is originally Arabic, but it can be used for males or females.
He also had three numbers tattooed on the back of the base of his right hand.
The official record posted by the UK Missing Persons Unit tells us the numbers are ‘984’. However, media reports give the numbers as ‘786’.
‘There’s often an assumption that taking away a person’s name erases who they are’, said Mark Greenhalgh, CEO of the charity.
‘But our work has shown that even when a name is restored, it does not automatically bring back someone’s identity.
‘That is why it is so important to look beyond identification, to understand the person, their story and the life that was lost to time. Only then can dignity and recognition truly be restored.’
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