David Lytton

David Lytton, known by the placeholder name Neil Dovestone, was an unidentified man found dead on Saddleworth Moor, in the South Pennines of Northern England on 12 December 2015. The placeholder name was reportedly devised by mortuary attendants at Royal Oldham Hospital, with reference to the location the body was found near Dovestone Reservoir, on an asphalt track in the Chew Valley. The man died from a lethal dose of strychnine, and is believed by police to have committed suicide. He was estimated to be between 65 and 75 years old and was almost 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, with a thin build; he was balding with grey hair and brown eyes. Evidence that the man had been in Pakistan not long before his death is from a 10-centimetre (3.9 in) titanium surgical plate, legally available only in Pakistan, attached to his left femur near the hip and the container used to carry the strychnine, originally used for a common medication (thyroxine), had a printed label with text in English and Urdu. The man was not known to the authorities in Pakistan and his fingerprints did not match any on record in Pakistan, the UK or other countries. No evidence linking him to missing persons cases was found. At 9.04 a.m. on 11 December the unidentified man had travelled by tube train from Ealing Broadway Station to Euston Station in London and then travelled to Manchester Piccadilly. He walked to the moor on the afternoon of 11 December, from Greenfield, where he made enquiries at The Clarence pub about walking to Wimberry Rocks. He was seen alive shortly after sunset (3.59 p.m.), by two RSPB staff, near the site at which his body was found the following day. Wimberry Stones is a rock feature overlooking the reservoir, known locally as "Indian's Head". It was the site of a fatal airplane crash in 1949. Investigating detectives surmised the man may have been Stephen Evans, a survivor of the crash but it was discounted after he contacted the local press. In January 2017 the body was identified as 67-year-old David Lytton, who had flown in to Heathrow Airport from Lahore, Pakistan, on 10 December 2015. He was identified from photographs from a passenger list and was picked up on CCTV in London. Greater Manchester Police reported that his identity had been confirmed as a result of a DNA match with a relative and said that Lytton "was a bit of a loner" and that "he liked his own company". His family was informed and a full inquest was scheduled for 14 March 2017.