A STARTLING recreation of a long-dead face is being used by police in their attempts to solve a mystery that started six months ago.

Experts have painstakingly reconstructed the head of a man whose identity is still unknown, despite exhaustive efforts to discover who he is.

Investigators are hoping it will be enough to jog someone's memory and put a name to the remains so they can at last be laid to rest.

The man's body was found in the River Ouse at Naburn Locks, near York, on September 12, last year.

The body was in advanced state of decomposition and experts believe it had been in the water for anything between three months and a year.

A post-mortem examination failed to establish a cause of death but, as there was no obvious sign of trauma, police are not treating the death as suspicious.

However, they are still no nearer to putting a name to the remains despite liaising with all the mainland police forces in the country. Various tests, including taking DNA, have also proved fruitless.

In the latest twist, experts from the Department of Forensic Pathology at Sheffield University have created a reconstruction of the man's head and face.

He was 5ft 7in, 11st and aged between 40 and 60. He was wearing navy blue Umbro tracksuit bottoms with yellow detail on the legs, Adidas trainers and red football socks with white tops.

Detective Inspector Steve Maud said yesterday: "It is quite unusual to be in this situation. Normally, we would have expected someone to have reported him missing.

"However, it is a very real possibility that this man has not previously been reported as missing.

"I'm hoping someone will recognise the reconstruction and come forward. There may well be friends or relatives out there able to help us with his identity. Obviously, we do not want the man to go to an anonymous grave."

Anyone who can provide information is asked to contact police on (01904) 669884

North Yorkshire Police pioneered the reconstruction techniques used to recreate the man's head and face.

They were the first force to create such an effigy after the badly-decomposed body of a woman was found in thick undergrowth near Sutton Bank, in August 1981.

The initiative attracted international publicity but ultimately proved to be of no avail and the woman was eventually buried in an unmarked grave in Malton Cemetery.