This is the blogpost I wrote back in January about the fifteen unidentified bodies found in the Devon and Cornwall area that are listed on the UK Missing Person site, found since 1968. It goes along with the video I posted in the last blogpost, and both are relevant to the 9th February 2026 talk I speak of.

I am going to return to my regular posting now, so every Saturday morning should see an update of where I am at with the "Fifteen P;us One" research.

Mystery to Revelation?

Jan 05, 2025

(This is a ten minute read).

I had time on my hands last night, so I decided to get on with researching the Unidentified Bodies that are listed on www.missingpersons.police.uk for the area of the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary.  For overseas readers, or for those who are not quite sure, these are the two furthest counties at the southwest corner of England.  Devon has the English Channel to its Southern coastline, and the Bristol Channel to its Northern coastline.  Cornwall’s coastline is four hundred and twenty-two miles long, (six hundred and ninety-seven kilometers) and has the English Channel to its South and runs up North towards the Bristol Channel. 

So, you may not be surprised to read that of the fifteen bodies listed, thirteen of the bodies were discovered at sea or on a beach. The discoveries range from the year nineteen sixty-eight until the most recent of two thousand and twenty. 

I spent the evening collating the information from each discovery and I compiled a table on nine pieces of A4 paper.  I taped them together so that I could see every person in chronological order with each category of information listed alongside.  (Photograph in Gallery section).

Bear with me if you will, the categories listed on the site are: Case Number, Sex, Photographs, Approximate Age When Found, Ethnicity, Build, Date Found, Body or Remains Found, Circumstances of Discovery, Hair Colour, Eye Colour, Distinguishing Features, Clothing and Possessions.  For some discoveries there is little information, for others, a good amount, and for a few, there are photographs. The photographs are listed under sensitive images, and you need to press a link to access this information, but it is readily available for you to see. 

Of the fifteen people listed, fourteen are male and one is female.  Of the fifteen listed, eleven people are believed to be of white European ethnicity, two are believed to be Asian and two are unknown.  The most recent Asian body to be found was on the twenty fourth of September two thousand and twenty. The gentleman’s body was found in heavy surf on the shoreline of Sennen beach, Penzance, Cornwall and was believed to have died the same day. He is believed to have been aged between fifty and sixty years old. There is a photograph of the gentleman’s face on the site and I hope and pray that if his relatives and friends are guided to the website, and see the photograph, then it will be with a relief of the knowing and not a random shock forced upon them. 

The Missing Persons Unit was set up in two thousand and twelve.  As of today, there are five hundred and forty-six unidentified bodies listed on their website.  There are others that are not listed on the site because they are too sensitive and/or are not deemed suitable for public viewing. The unit was set up with the help of Rachel Edwards.  Rachel is the sister of Richey Edwards who was the lead singer of the Manic Street Preachers and who disappeared on the first of February nineteen ninety-five. 

Returning to the list, and to the other Asian gentleman.  Believed to have been between the ages of thirty and thirty-five he was sadly found in a Torquay hotel room having thought to have taken his own life.  Again, there is a photograph of his face on the site.  He has a scar or cut on his arm.  He has a pock marked face that was either bad acne or scars from smallpox. His body was found on the twenty fourth of September nineteen ninety-seven and it looks like he was smartly dressed in trousers, a jacket, shirt and a tie. 

You would believe from the overall information that some of the gentlemen were sailors, fisherman or something to do with the sea. 

The earliest discovery on the twenty third of April nineteen sixty-eight sees a gentleman of perhaps forty to fifty years old who was recovered from the sea at Wembury, Devon.  There is a photograph of his face, and it is believed he may have been a seamen lost overboard in the English Channel.  There were peculiarities to his fingers and teeth.  He was of a stocky build with dark hair. 

A possible fisherman could be the answer to the discovery of a body on the second of May nineteen seventy.  He was found at sea.  He was around five feet three or four in height and was brought to Plymouth, Devon by a Russian Trawler.  The gentleman had a stretch bandage over his chest and was thought to have perhaps had a recent rib injury.  He was clothed in rubber gloves, smock and trousers, with some items of clothing marked “Industrial Nouvelle” and “Grosse 44”.  So, a possible connection to France. 

And another possible connection to France could be the gentleman discovered on the fifth of November nineteen sixty-nine. His body was found at Enys Head near Cadgwith, Cornwall. Believed to be around five foot ten tall with a medium build and between thirty-five to forty-five years old this gentleman was thought to have been in the water for around three or four months.  He was wearing a sailing smock with the label “L’Hermaine Marque de Post” and trousers marked “Le Glazik Quimer”.  He was wearing a “Vilmor” wristwatch, carried a penknife with him, and wore open toed sandals.  If you were to put some logic and speculation towards the identity of this gentleman you might say, could he have been within the sailing community, perhaps a boat owner who fell into the sea off a moored boat at a marina from the North coast of France somewhere? 

But logic and speculation are not really too often great friends with the work in identifying bodies or the search for missing persons. 

So that is five of the fifteen discoveries covered so far.   

The second of the two gentlemen whose bodies were discovered inland is that of someone who may well have been on a day trip.  This is speculation and logic taking over again.  

Although only thought to have been dead for between two and four weeks there is no mention of this man’s ethnicity.  He was thought to have been of thin build, between thirty and fifty years of age and was found at Leedon Tor on Dartmoor on the twenty ninth of February nineteen seventy-six.  He had brown greying hair, and in my imagination, he would have looked like a rather dapper and smartly dressed person.  He wore gold cufflinks, and his clothing is described very well.  He wore smart trousers, shirt, jacket, a “Burtons” overcoat, a gold and brown tie and size nine shoes. 

You could say he could have been on a short day walk.  With him was found an ordanance survey map of Dartmoor. He also had glasses, a Varsity Pressmatic fountain pen, a jar of sweet and sour sauce, bottles with seeds in them, a wallet with money in it, matches, string, a biro, a contraceptive. 

There is a lot of information here. “Dapper” might be a theme we could work with.  “Can we help identify you Sir?”  We are trying. 

Apart from the distinguishing features spoke about before, there are a few more listed.  There are two gentleman that have scars or marks to their genitals.  The first gentleman was discovered on the sixteenth of July nineteen seventy-seven.  He was of large build, thought to have been between thirty and forty-five years old and his body was recovered from the sea near Newquay, Cornwall.  It is thought he could have been in the sea for between ten days and three months. 

The second gentleman’s body was at Porthcothan beach, near Truro, Cornwall on the twenty second of January nineteen seventy-eight.  He was of large build, could have been in the water for about a month and wore size nine shoes. 

The only female to have been discovered was that of a body found washed ashore at Millook beach, Bude, Cornwall on the twenty fourth of August nineteen seventy-nine.  She was of thin build and thought to have been between twenty-five and thirty years old at the time of her death.  She could have been in the water for between three and six months. 

A gentleman’s body found floating in the sea at Porthgwarra, St.Levan, Penzance, Cornwall on the twenty sixth of September nineteen ninety-seven is reported to have been lacking an eye and had a scar on his forehead leading from above the nose to his scalp.  It is thought that this could have been a medical scar.  He was believed to have been between thirty-five and fifty-five years old and could have been in the water for seven days. 

A body found at Steeple Cove Soar on the twenty eighth of March nineteen ninety-nine was of slim build, about five feet ten inches in height and between eighteen and twenty-five years old.  There are photographs of a jacket, a watch, and shoes.  The shoes have a unique tread mark on the souls, that of a spanner and nut pattern.  He also had with him a yellow metal Sekonda wristwatch.  His body was believed to have been in the water for several weeks and evidence suggests he had had recent emergency treatment on a tooth. 

A body of large build found on the fifth of November nineteen seventy-five, aged between thirty and fifty years was thought to have been in the water a long time. Found at South Milton Sands, Kingsbridge, Devon, the gentleman was known to wear dentures. 

The two gentleman’s bodies found with the least listed information about them are firstly a body at Bovisland who had been in the water for about two months.  He was discovered on the twelfth of December in nineteen seventy-three.  He was thought to have been about twenty years old and five feet ten inches tall. 

And a six feet tall man was found North of Trevose Head, near Padstow in Cornwall.  He is believed to have been in the water for between two weeks and two months.  He was of medium build, aged between twenty and a hundred years old, and this was on the twelfth of October two thousand and one. 

And so to the final unidentified body listed on the www.missingpersons.police.unit website for the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary. This gentleman’s identity, along with a number of others, has come under huge scrutiny over the years, both by professionals and by volunteers. 

A man’s body was found at Port Minnick on the island of St.Mary’s, the largest of the Scilly Isles which is an archipelago off the Southwest coast of Cornwall. The date, twenty first of February nineteen seventy-nine. It is thought that his body had been in the water for at least four months.  He had dark brown/greying hair.  He was thought to have been between forty and sixty years old, of medium build, and about five feet four inches tall. 

He was wearing an “Eltex” make vest and a shirt, and what has taken up large amounts of time for the professional and voluntary investigators has been the gold band potential wedding ring that he wore on a finger on his right hand.  The inscription on it reads, “Georgio and Katarina 1956”. 

You would have thought that this could have led to his identity, but no, forty-six years later, he remains unidentified. 

And this is where logic and speculation can so very often not be your friend in an investigation of this kind. 

We have long lists of unidentified bodies.  We have varying amounts of information about them, but as you can see from the above, many stay unidentified for years, for decades. Personally, I believe we can make inroads into identifying these people.  But I think our first step is in asking them themselves, “Gentleman, Ladies, do you want to be identified?” 

I think we then need to ask them, “If you do, how can we help you?” 

And then we need to pull back from extensive investigations, listen to our hearts, our intuition, our gut feelings, and then try and see if we can feel answers to the questions we have asked the unidentified. 

We can honour their existence as human beings even if they are not ready to be identified.  It is not our responsibility, (I believe), to name these people if we find it so difficult, and that doesn’t mean we don’t care.  In fact, the very many people whose quest is to try and name them, in itself means, we do care. 

I would say, ask the Unidentified the above questions then sit in a bit of stillness and see where your heart is guiding you.  We can solve many of these mysteries, I believe, but not always through the use of extensive, exhaustive, resource hungry investigations, but by simply asking simple questions, not panicking, and listening to our hearts.