THE cause of death of a man whose remains were uncovered by children playing in a farmer’s field remains a mystery, an inquest has heard.
The discovery was made on February 4 this year when children playing in a field in Swaithe, Worsbrough, found a human skull which was confirmed to be that of of Martin Neil Radford, 57, who went missing three years earlier.
An inquest led by coroner Steven Eccleston concluded there was no identifiable cause of death, and questions remain as to exactly when the man died and how he came to end up in the farm land off Mitchell Street.
“This inquest is unusual in the lack of information we have available to answer the statutory questions,” said Mr Eccleston, referring to the questions that an inquest aims to answer of who died, how, when and where.
“We do have a detailed investigation by police and I am grateful for the evidence by forensic pathologist Dr Naomi Carter. I have no doubt in the thoroughness of the police.
“Dr Carter has undertaken her own autopsy and is confident the cause of death is unascertained. I accept that evidence.
“In terms of where Martin died, it’s not possible to precisely say.
“In terms of when Martin died, there is a range that takes us from March 23 to April 2, 2015 where Martin was not seen. It seems likely that is indeed covering when Martin died. It’s difficult to be more precise than that.
“Other than that, it remains a mystery. Sometimes we can’t answer everything.”
Giving a narrative verdict, Mr Eccleston said: “Martin Neil Radford was found deceased on the edge of a field boundary bordering Mitchell Street.
“It is not possible to say how Martin died, but there is no evidence of foul play.”
Following the discovery of the skull, which had evidence of injury both before and after death but nothing considered suspicious, further remains were found, and DNA matching confirmed these to belong to Martin Redford.
Martin, who was previously believed to have led a ‘transient lifestyle’, was unemployed and on benefits, and it was his regular habit of withdrawing his benefit payments from his bank account on the day they arrived that led police to suggest the range of dates in which he is believed to have died.
The last confirmed sighting of Martin was on March 27, and his last benefit payment was on April 2, but this was not withdrawn.
He had lived on Linton Close, Kingstone, but at the time of his disappearance Martin was staying at a property on Farm Road in Kendray after being evicted.
Checks of the police database confirmed Martin was on record for drug and alcohol related problems and antisocial behaviour.
He had two children, Nicola and Dean, from whom he was estranged, two brothers, Anthony and Nigel, and a father Harry.
“The usual background searches have managed to tell us something about the life of Martin,” said Mr Eccleston.
“He was probably living at the time quite near to the area where his body was found. The police have identified no evidence of foul play or intelligence relating to individuals with a grudge against Martin.”
The death was initially treated as suspicious by police, with DC Andrew Stephanek telling the inquest they were looking at the ‘worst case scenario’.
Police went ‘as far as they reasonably could go’ in attempting to recover the remains, removing 20 tons of top soil, and DC Stephanek added he was confident there were no more skeletal remains in the area.
However, bones from his arm, waist and shoulder were missing, and police cannot ‘fully explain’ why they were not found - giving possible explanations of movement of top soil by the farmer and scavenging by predators, which would mean these were moved to rest outside of the area of the search.
