THE 'BADLY decomposed' body of a 'nomadic' man who had taken his own life was found in the River Derwent by a 12-year-old boy, an inquest has heard.

Peter Birchall, 71, was found partially submerged under a fallen tree in the river at Portinscale, near Keswick on May 1, 2024.

The grisly discovery was made at around 6pm by the child, who was fishing in the area.

He was on a video call with his father, and tried to show him what he thought was a dummy in the river.

The father rushed to the scene, and called the police at 6.40pm.

A statement submitted to Cockermouth Coroner's Court by Detective Inspector Amanda Sykes, who arrived at around 7.30pm, said that visual identification was not possible due to the condition of the body.

A 'balance of probabilities' statement was submitted by an attendant police officer in lieu of an identification statement.

It said that after crime scene investigation officers had completed their work at the scene, a fire crew retrieved Mr Birchall's body from the river.

Upon inspection, police officers found that he had a bag 'tied round his neck', containing several large rocks, a puzzle book, and a laminated birth certificate.

He was wearing 'several pairs of trousers' 'smart dress shoes', and a Covid facemask.

Mr Birchall, born in Morecambe but recently of Kirkham, Preston, also had several pouches tied around him, each containing money and notebooks wrapped in plastic bags, but water ingress had made the notebooks indecipherable.

One also contained a passport and a Latvian ID card. 

These, along with the laminated birth certificate and a driving license check, enabled police to be 'satisfied' that the body was that of Mr Birchall.

He was not on the police register, so had not been reported as missing.

Police attempted to find some family members, and investigations led them to Zigrida Rafelde, Mr Birchall's ex-partner.

She told police that their relationship had ended in June 2023, and knew nothing else about his activities since, but that he had a brother, Brian Birchall, in the Lancashire area.

Brian Birchall confirmed this to police, but said that he and his wife Gillian had not heard from his brother in ten years, despite their attempts to reach him.

They informed police Mr Birchall was half Latvian and owned property there.

Statements submitted to the court by Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust said that Mr Birchall had a 'recognised history of suicide attempts'.

They had been contacted on August 22, 2023 by a psychiatrist for information about Mr Birchall as he had 'fallen 30 feet off a promenade onto concrete' in Brighton.

He was registered at Arch Healthcare, a GP practice in Brighton for homeless people.

A statement from a member of the rapid intervention treatment team said he was then transferred to Clifton Hospital in Lytham after the incident in Brighton, when he had injured his spine, hips, ribs, and had also 'cut his wrists'.

A mental health assessment was carried out in November 2023 at Clifton Hospital prior to Mr Birchall's transfer the the Assessment and Rehabilitation Centre (ARC) in Blackpool.

It said that it was unclear as to why Mr Birchall was in Brighton but his lifestyle was 'nomadic'.

Mr Birchall claimed that his soft drink had been 'spiked' by a 'substance unknown' in Brighton, causing him to have an 'out of body experience', and heard people shouting at him from the beach to jump and end his life.

He said he 'had to climb over the handrail to get away', and the 'blood on his hands caused him to lose his grip', leading to his fall.

He said he could not recall cutting his wrists.

He denied any thoughts of suicide and appeared 'lucid, rational, and friendly'.

He showed no signs of paranoid delusions, and staff deemed him to 'have capacity'.

Assistant coroner for Cumbria, Margaret Taylor, said that a Trust learning review did not lead her to consider that those involved in the assessment could have prevented Mr Birchall's death.

Ms Taylor accepted the cause of death offered as drowning, and said that Mr Birchall had intended to enter the water to take his own life.

Ms Taylor made a conclusion of suicide.

She said: "Sadly we know little about his life.

"He was clearly itinerant, and does not appear to have had a great deal of family contact in the months leading up to his death.

"I would like to express my sympathy with the child who found Peter Charles Birchall, and indeed his father, this must have been very traumatic.

"While clearly traumatic for both professional services to find a body in this state in the water, it would be all the more so for a 12-year-old child."

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