By David LennardTHE identity of two bodies washed up on the East Anglian coast may never be known, an inquest has been told.A man walking his dog along the beach at Pakefield, near Lowestoft, at about 10.

By David Lennard

THE identity of two bodies washed up on the East Anglian coast may never be known, an inquest has been told.

A man walking his dog along the beach at Pakefield, near Lowestoft, at about 10.15am on February 20 discovered a body washed up on the shore.

The area was immediately sealed off and police began a painstaking inquiry to try to establish the man's identity.

A post-mortem examination failed to discover the cause of death, but it is thought the body could have been in the water for between one and three months.

The man was said to be aged between 30 and 55, about 6ft 1in tall and had mid-brown hair. He was wearing Clarkes shoes and jeans from the retailer Peacocks.

Lowestoft coroner's officer, Dennis Collinson, told the inquest on Friday that Suffolk Cosntabulary had contacted every police force in the country in order to identify the man and details of the man's description had also been placed with Interpol and international missing person helplines.

"Despite many hours of investigation, it has not been possible to identify this man. There has also been no DNA match," said Mr Collinson.

The Lowestoft inquest heard just over two months earlier on December 9, 2003 a fisherman had discovered body parts floating in the water close to Slaughden Quay in Aldeburgh.

Following a search of the area a lower leg and torso together with other body parts, including part of a spine, were found. Tests revealed they belonged to an adult male who was likely to be aged over 40 and about 6ft tall.

It is thought the man could have been in the water for about three months, but despite a thorough investigation, which included trying to match DNA samples, it has once again not been possible to identify the man.

Lowestoft coroner George Leguen de Lacroix recorded open verdicts on both men as post-mortem examinations had been unable to reveal how they died.

"If new evidence should come to light at a later date, it will be possible to reopen these inquests," he said.

The bodies will now be passed on to the local authorities as they are responsible for their funerals.

The body washed up at Pakefield will be buried in a cemetery chosen by Waveney District Council and the body parts washed up at Aldeburgh will be buried in a cemetery chosen by Suffolk Coastal District Council.

Both councils said the funeral services would be "simple and respectful" and the position of the unmarked graves will be recorded in case further evidence about their identities was discovered at a later date.

david.lennard@eadt.co.uk