By David LennardPOLICE officers have not been able to discover the identity of a body washed up on a beach, an inquest heard.A man walking his dog on the beach in Pakefield at about 10.

By David Lennard

POLICE officers have not been able to discover the identity of a body washed up on a beach, an inquest heard.

A man walking his dog on the beach in Pakefield at about 10.15am on February 20 made the gruesome discovery.

The decomposed body of a man was found in an area close to Grand Avenue and police sealed off part of the beach while the body was recovered.

A post-mortem examination was carried out by Home Office pathologists,but no cause of death has been established and Suffolk police are continuing to treat the death as “unexplained”.

Lowestoft coroner George Leguen de Lacroix formally opened yesterday the inquest into the man's death and adjourned the hearing until April 30.

A Suffolk police spokeswoman said officers were concentrating their efforts on trying to identify the man.

He is likely to have been aged between 30 and 55, about 6ft 1in tall, of slim build and with mid-brown hair.

“It is thought the body may have been in the water for between one and three months,” added the spokeswoman.

Police forces in this country and across Europe have been asked to check their missing person's files to see if they can find any potential matches.

It is possible the man entered the water from the European side of the North Sea and that tides and prevailing winds led to his body being washed up in north Suffolk.

In the meantime samples taken from the body have been sent for DNA analysis and it is hoped these and dental records will help identify the man.

david.lennard@eadt.co.uk