A pensioner found dead on a remote hillside in the north of England died from a dose of rat poison, toxicology tests show.

The unidentified man was found on Saddleworth moor on 11 December, 24 hours after he caught a train from London to Dovestone Reservoir in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

It has now been confirmed that he suffered strychnine poisoning. Strychnine is a highly toxic odourless alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly to kill rodents.

Greater Manchester police continue to appeal for help to identify the man after running into a series of dead ends.

A number of theories have been explored, including that he may have been making a pilgrimage to the scene of a plane crash that killed 24 people in 1949, possibly because he was related to one of the victims or was one of the survivors.

Officers identified the man, smartly dressed and thought to be aged 65-75, in CCTV footage from Ealing, west London, where he is believed to have started his journey on the morning of 11 December.

He arrived in Manchester shortly after midday after taking a train from London Euston, then went to Greenfield, Saddleworth, and visited the Clarence pub at 2pm, where he asked the landlord how to get to the top of the 457-metre (1,500ft) Indian’s Head peak above Dove Stone reservoir.

Despite warnings from the landlord, Mel Robinson, about treacherous weather conditions, the man was spotted walking up the hill at about 4.30pm.

His body was found the next morning by a passing cyclist on a boggy section of track. He was wearing slip-on shoes and had £130 in cash in his pockets, along with three train tickets, including a return ticket to London. He was carrying no documentation.

Police describe him as white, of slim build, with a receding hairline with grey hair to the side and back. He had a large nose, which may have been previously broken, and was clean shaven.

He wore a heavy brown jacket, blue jumper, white long-sleeve shirt, blue corduroy trousers and black slip-on shoes.

In January, pictures of the dead man were circulated to GPs nationwide, and detectives from Manchester travelled to London and visited hostels, hotels and pubs in an attempt to discover his identity.

Anyone with information should phone police on 0161 856 8972 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

• This article was amended on 14 June 2016. An earlier version wrongly converted 1,500ft to 4,570 metres. This has been corrected.

