THE identity of a man decapitated by a train seven months ago is still a mystery .

An inquest heard that all efforts to find out who he was had failed.

He was killed by an express train near Grimeford Lane, between Adlington and Blackrod, on April 5.

His body was buried in an unmarked grave.

Coroner's officer Pc Brian Healey told yesterday that police circulated descriptions of the man and used a sketch of the man in their efforts to identify him.

The man's dental details were distributed to local surgeries and inquiries were also made at doctors' and the DSS, but there was no record of him.

The closest the police came was when a Westhoughton woman said she had seen him passing her home on a number of occasions. Karen Hesketh, of the Pewfist Estate, Westhoughton said she had seen a man answering his description walking along Wigan Road with carrier bags.

Local people and housing estate wardens were questioned but without success. The police also contacted hostels in London and other major cities.

Pc Healey said after the hearing he had never come across a case where a body had remained unidentified for so long.

He said: "It is very sad. This is a very unusual case."

The jury returned an open verdict after coroner Martin Coppell's said there was no way of knowing how the body came to be on the track.

The man was white, aged between 30 and 40 and of thin build. He had brown eyes, dark collar-length hair which was greying at the front and sides, and a goatee beard and moustache. He was wearing a black T shirt under a blue and white checked shirt and a grey and white polo-necked sweater, as well as black jeans, a waterproof anorak with a Bradsport label, black bob cap, grey wool socks and oxblood coloured Doctor Martens-style walking boots with multi-coloured laces.

Anyone with information should contact Pc Healey on 0161 2285685.

Meanwhile, police were today trying to identify a man who collapsed at Manchester Airport last night. The man who suffers from epileptic fits is in Withington Hospital.

He is white, aged around 22 and 5ft 4in tall, with blue eyes, short red hair and of a stocky build.

When he was admitted to hospital he was wearing blue track suit bottoms with red piping, black trainers, a yellow T-shirt, green woollen jumper and a denim jacket with a patterned collar and a badge sewn on the jacket with the wording Portland College embroidered on to it.

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