The body of a man has been found in North Devon and police are asking for help with identifying him.

The man was found in the River Torridge at Bideford on Monday afternoon (March 27) and officers suspect that he was working with machinery because he had wads of blue tac in his ears.

Detectives are working to establish who he may be and to find his next of kin, having ruled out known local missing people from their enquiries.

The man is a white male, approximately 50-60 years of age, with receding, greying hair, and a brown but greying neat beard. He has blue eyes and is of a slim build.

He was wearing several layers of clothes – an outer coat of several shades of blue over a black zip-up fleece, a blue wool jumper, all over a collared plaid shirt that is white and brown. He wore dark blue trousers tied with a cord over blue jeans, and black work boots.

He had wads of blu tac in each ear as possible protection against loud noise. He had no identification, and no property, with him.

Detective Sergeant Ben Cartwright said: “Out of respect for this man’s family, officers have been making discreet enquiries since he was found to try and identify him. However, this has not been successful, and we are calling on the local community for assistance.

“While we remain open-minded as to who he is, from the clothing and the ear plugs, it is possible he was operating or working on some sort of machinery – be it a boat, or some sort of local industry.

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“We are keen to hear from anyone who works or lives in these environments in the area who may recognise this man from the description given, or anyone else who may have any information to assist us.”

Anyone with any information that could help with enquiries is asked to contact police via the website here or by calling 101 quoting log 396 of 27/03/23.