A BOMBSHELL breakthrough has been made in the mysterious case of ‘The Gentleman’ who was found wearing cast iron shoes in the North Sea.
Scientists in Perth now believe that the man, who was found by police in 1994 off the coast of a group of German islands, actually spent most of his life in Australia.
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He was nicknamed ‘The Gentleman’ after he was found wearing a wool tie, long-sleeved blue shirt, British-made shoes and French-made trousers.
His body, found in the water off the coast of Heligoland, was weighed down by cast iron shoemaker’s feet.
Researchers in the 1990s thought he was 45 to 50 years old when he died and it was initially suspected that he was from Great Britain.
German police were left stunned in their quest to find out more about the man, but criminologists and forensic scientists at Murdoch University in Perth have now made significant advances.
Adopting the rationale of “you are what you eat,” scientists were able to conduct an isotope ratio analysis of The Gentleman’s bones.
The differences in soil, climate and human activity around the world change the isotopic compositions of food, water and even dust in the isotopic compositions of human tissue.
The data collected shows that the man probably spent most of his life in Australia. the guard reports.
New tests also yielded a DNA profile of the man, who is thought to be 45 to 50 years old when he died.
Brendan Chapman, director of the Cold Case Review team at Murdoch University, said it was a remarkable revelation.
He said, “What are the chances that of this small collection of universities working on this case, one is from the country the man comes from?”
Researchers hope his DNA will reveal more about who he was and whether he has any living relatives.
Details of his case were released as part of Missing Person’s Week, with authorities calling on Australians to come forward for tests to resolve some of the country’s cold cases.
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