River Tay body:Police no closer to identifying man

DETECTIVES trying to identify a mystery man, whose barefoot body was recovered from the River Tay, revealed today that their decision to release an artist’s impression of him had prompted calls, emails and social media messages from Britain and abroad.

Police have released an artist's impression of the man found barefoot in the River Tay. Picture: Police Scotland

But, despite the encouraging response, they are no nearer to establishing his identity.

The man’s body was recovered from the Tay last Friday, a short distance from the shoreline between Broughty Castle and the Broughty Ferry Lifeboat Station.

Detective Constable Keith Stockton said the release of the image, created by an expert in craniofacial identification, had prompted a wide public response from people who were keen to help.

He said: ‘‘People have been very quick to get in touch, not necessarily to offer a possible name or address for the man, but to say they think they have seen a man who looks similar, or wears similar clothes and where they have seen him before.

‘‘We’ve had people get in touch to suggest what outdoor pursuits he might have been interested in and to name possible retail outlets where his clothing might have been bought. Someone even got in touch from Thailand with information about clothing. We are very grateful to all of them and are following up on what they have told us.”

He continued: ‘‘We still do not know who the man is or where he is from – clearly it would help our enquiries enormously if someone were to provide a name and address – but we want people to keep getting in touch with any scrap of information they have no matter how insignificant they feel it might be. It could be the detail that helps us make a breakthrough.’’

The man – who is believed to have been in the water for a matter of days rather than weeks - was a middle-aged, with dark brown hair, greying a little at the sides, and a greying brown beard and moustache.

He was about 6ft tall and stocky and was wearing a red waterproof jacket, a beige coloured long sleeve shirt, a woollen snood around his neck, black fingerless gloves and green trousers. But he was not wearing any boots or shoes.

He was found with two orange ear plugs, and a set of four gold or brass keys on a metal chain in his left trouser pocket. His possessions also included a red plastic hair comb, a small white pen knife with a blade and corkscrew, a Seiko silver metal wrist watch and a pair of large black plastic sunglasses.

The Tayside Division has now also released images of the clothing the man was wearing when he was recovered from the Tay.