Amongst them are five cases that linked to Scotland, one of whom was found in Edinburgh.
The man’s body was discovered in Edinburgh city centre(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Scottish people are being asked to help put names to the faces of mystery dead who remain unidentified decades on.
Locate International, a charity that are dedicated to finding missing people and naming the unidentified, has made a re-appeal to the public for help over a string of cases which remain unsolved.
Amongst them are five cases that linked to Scotland, one of whom was found in Edinburgh, with volunteers and university students working to try and put names to four men and one woman, reports The Daily Record.
Appealing for information on the cases, Locate said: “We remember those whose names remain unknown – people who passed away without being identified.
“Let’s honour them by keeping their memory alive and supporting efforts to give them back their identities.”
Among the cases is that of the ‘Edinburgh man’ who was found dead in Regent Road Gardens, Edinburgh in December 1987. No fingerprints or DNA were taken and no dental records are held. He is buried at Mortonhall Cemetery.
He was believed to have been between 25 and 40 years old, white European with brown/hazel eyes, brown wavy, medium length hair, a full moustache and beard, a mole on his left cheek and a scar on one finger on his right hand.
He was wearing a long, black overcoat, a brown tweed jacket/blazer and two jumpers – one green, one grey – with blue jeans, a grey woolly hat and brown walking boots with red laces.
He had a number of items with him, including a silver chain with a ‘Catholic medallion’, and a rucksack containing a plain paper sketchbook with sketches of The Moorings pub in Aberdeen and The Ferry Boat Inn pub in Ullapool.
The charity said: “It has been suggested that he was a homeless man from the north of Scotland, heading to the Edinburgh Festival to work as a street artist.”
The ‘Port Logan woman’ was recovered from the high tide line on Port Logan beach, Dumfries and Galloway in November 2006.
She is believed to have been between 30 and 50 years old and been in the water for up to six months, so she may have gone missing in the spring or summer of 2006.
She was between 4ft 11in and 5ft 4in, with a thin build and no teeth. She may have worn dentures in life.
She was found wearing size 10 Bay Trading trousers.
Locate International said: “We are referring to her as Port Logan Woman, but in life she would have had a name.
“We would like your help in returning this to her.”
‘Burnside Plantation Man’ is believed to have been aged between 40-60 when he was discovered by a couple out walking in Canonbie, Scotland in December 2010.
It’s believed the body may have been there for over a month.
A daily Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, dated 22nd July 2010, was recovered nearby, along with till receipts in his pockets from a shop in London, dating back to 1991.
He was white, between 5ft 8ins and 5ft 9ins tall with a bald head, six missing teeth and grey stubble.
The man was wearing a green safari hat, brown tanned coloured cord jacket, black trousers, light coloured gloves and grey ankle boots sized between a UK six to eight.
He had a boxed swiss army knife.
‘Balmore man’ was found almost a year later in October 2011.
A post-mortem estimated the body to be aged 25-34 years of age,.
He is believed to be white European, with light-coloured hair, parted on the right and between 5ft 8in and 6ft 1in.
He was found wearing a blue Topman T-shirt with a maroon diagonal stripe on the front with a blue zipped cardigan with a ‘Greek Pennsylvania’ logo.
His jeans were light-coloured ‘Petroleum’ brand and he wore black waterproof walking shoes.
A Nike bag nearby contained toiletries and spare clothes. It is believed he was a smoker.
He had no phone or any form of identification.
‘Bakewell Man’ was found on the roof of flats in Bakewell, Derbyshire, in May 1977, but had strong links to Scotland.
He is thought to have died three weeks earlier and be between 20 and 40 years old.
The man was white, 5ft 8in tall and thin with brown eyes, dark brown receding hair and a full beard. He was believed to be diabetic.
He was wearing a black jacket with tartan lining, blue jeans and a camouflage hat and carrying a train ticket from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh and a Led Zeppelin ticket for their May 1975 Earls Court arena gig.
The Record told in 2023 how the The Cold Case Unit at Glasgow Caledonian University, who works closely with the charity, was helping put names to some of the 86 unidentified bodies then recovered in Scotland.
Student sleuths had worked to generate dozens of potential leads with the help of facial reconstructions.
Lesley McMillan, a professor in Criminology and Sociology, said: “Some people will think their info isn’t relevant because they’re mixed up by dates and times and have misremembered. It could be the tiniest thing that eventually connects the dots.”