A MAN was found dead on a path at the back of council flats a day after leaving home to take his dog for a walk.

Philip Cutmore, aged 30, pictured, was found slumped against a wall on the path at back of Keats Close, Atherton yesterday.

A post mortem is being carried out to establish how he died.

Mr Cutmore left the family home on Windermere Avenue, Hag Fold, Atherton, on Monday morning telling his mother Joyce that he was taking his dog Kessy for a walk to visit a friend.

A devastated Joyce said today: "When he didn't come home on Monday night I wasn't alarmed because it wasn't unusual for him to stay over." But she became extremely worried about her only son when she was woken at 8am the following morning by the dog barking. "I came downstairs and she was outside with her lead on. Philip would never leave the dog so I knew something awful had happened."

Joyce, 59, immediately reported her son missing.

Several hours later she received the news that her son had been found dead in nearby Keats Close.

"I can't understand it," she said. "He had a bad chest because he smoked and he had ulcers, but he was a young man. I have no idea why he died or why he was near Keats Close." The alarm was raised by John Reade, 66, of Keats Close, who found the body.

He said: "I was walking back from the shops when I bumped into a neighbour who said she'd had a fright as there was a man on the floor. I went to check and he was not breathing."

He added: "He must have been lying there for hours because rigormortis had set in. I cannot understand how nobody saw him before I did because the path is very popular, especially with people who walk their dogs."

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances.

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