The mystery surrounding the so-called "Piano Man" seemed to be solved yesterday after it was revealed that he was a 20-year-old German and that his condition had suddenly improved markedly.

The man was found wandering near a beach on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, in April. He was wearing a dripping wet suit and tie, and all the labels from his clothes had been removed.

He had not spoken since being found, but yesterday it was reported that he finally broke his silence last week, revealing that he was from Germany and had made his way to the UK after losing his job in Paris.

He was dubbed the Piano Man by the media after the trust said he "played classical music beautifully for four hours" to carers. However, a national newspaper also reported yesterday that he did not play the piano to the level suggested, and could only "tap one key continuously".

A spokesman for the NHS trust that cared for him would not comment on reports that managers would seek compensation for the time spent helping the man.

A spokesman said: "The patient dubbed the Piano Man is no longer in the care of the West Kent NHS and Social Care Trust.

"He has been discharged from our care following a marked improvement in his condition."

The German embassy in London said it was called by health officials in Kent about the case, and then contacted the man's family in Germany to verify his identity.

A spokesman for the German Foreign Office, in Berlin, yesterday confirmed that the man was from Bavaria, in southern Germany, and was aged 20.

Social workers and staff from the National Missing Persons Helpline spent months trying to identify the "Piano Man".

Various lines of inquiry were thrown up, including suggestions that he was a musician from the Czech Republic and a student living in Norway, but most were proved to be false.

An upright piano was installed in his room at the secure mental health unit in Dartford where he was being held, and doctors considered using music and art therapy to try to communicate with him.

At one point the man was given a pen and paper in the hope he would write his name or draw his country's flag, but instead he drew highly detailed pictures of a grand piano