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The mystery surrounding what happened to a 27-year-old man found dead in the River Thames continues with police unable to say how he ended up in the river.

In May last year, the body of Valentin Kachanov was found at an oil jetty near Wouldham Road, Grays.

He had been reported missing in March last year with no one hearing from him since February.

Today (Tuesday, January 21) the inquest into his death took place at the Essex Coroner's Court in Chelmsford with the court hearing that the last contact Valentin had was when he made a phone call to his family in Bulgaria.

Speaking inside the courtroom, Detective Chief Inspector Martin Pasmore, of Essex Police, explained the circumstances of his disappearance.

"On March 14 we received a phone call from Valentin's sister saying that he had gone missing," he said.

"We knew that he had had a conversation on February 8 with his family, where he was upbeat and telling them about his upcoming pay rise and plans to visit them in Bulgaria."

DCI Pasmore then explained how that phone call was the last time anyone saw or heard from Valentin.

It was also the last time that his mobile phone was ever used.

(Image: Essex Police)

"As far as we could tell, when the call began, he was in or around his home address in Grays, but during the call he was walking away," he continued.

"The call ended when he was quite close to the area where his body was found."

Before Valentin's body was found on May 7, 2019, Essex Police had launched a murder enquiry into his disappearance.

On May 1, the police announced they had arrested someone on suspicion of murder but it was later confirmed that there had been no third party involvement in Valentin's death.

At the inquest, DCI Pasmore said: "There was one individual that we focused on as a suspect, but it became apparent that he was not involved."

On May 7, Valentin's body was found by a passer-by.

DCI Pasmore explained: "On May 7 we received a phone call from a dog walker that there was a body.

"He was wearing a distinctive 'Jaws' t-shirt which we knew Valentin had been wearing so we started thinking that it could be him, but we had to do a full identification process.

"We got information from Bulgaria from his past few years of dental records in Bulgaria.

"Based on that we were sure that it was him.

"We also took DNA swabs from his parents and it came out 100 per cent conclusive."

A forensic post mortem examination was carried out on May 9 at Basildon Hospital by Dr Virginia Fitzpatrick-Swallow.

Her findings showed no marks on the body to suggest a third party involvement.

DCI Pasmore explained how there was the potential that a crime could have been involved, however there were no 'offensive marks' at all to suggest so.

Valentin's phone was never found, and there were no personal documents on his body, however it was explained that this could be because of the tide and current of the Thames.

(Image: Essex Police)

Police suspect that Valentin entered the water on February 8, as there was no trace of him after that day but, the level of decomposition of his body meant that it was not possible to say how he died.

Dr Fitzpatrick-Swallow gave his cause of death as unascertained.

DCI Pasmore told Senior Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray that, regardless of how Valentin ended up in the water, it was very unlikely that he would have been able to get himself out, especially at night time in February where it would have been cold and dark.

He said: "Survival time in that water is probably less than an hour.

"The level of decomposition was in keeping with the length of time since that phone call."

Speaking about how Valentin found himself in the water, DCI Pasmore said it would be hard to ever find out.

"The families view is that they can't see that he would have taken his own life," he added.

"When they spoke to him he seemed happy and upbeat, and looking forward to his promotion.

"There was no evidence to suggest he was not liked. In fact all of the evidence suggests that he was well liked.

"Sadly for his family unless new information comes to light, we may never know how he ended up in the water."

Bringing the inquest to a close, Beasley-Murray said that there was no other option than to give an open conclusion into Valentin's death.