AN inquest was unable to establish how a hitch-hiker met his death after his body was found in a South Lakeland river.

Fifteen years after badly decomposed remains were washed up on a River Leven sandbank at Sampool, near Levens, the body has now been formally identified.

A hearing at Kendal yesterday heard that identification involved an ‘extremely unusual’ investigation.

It involved American university staff, multiple police forces and the sharp memory of a local coroner.

The hearing was told that the body was that of 21-year-old Ian Allison who disappeared without a trace in November 1994, while hitch-hiking from Torquay to his mother’s house in Glasgow.

In 1996 an inquest ruled that the cause of death of the male was "unascertainable" and an "open verdict" was recorded.

The unusual height of the deceased male, who was estimated to be six foot ten inches tall, and the American brand clothing found on the body were included in a report which appeared in The Westmorland Gazette.

South Cumbria coroner Ian Smith said the details ‘rang a bell with him’ years later, when he received a letter from detective Lee Mansell, of Devon and Cornwall Police.

The southern team were still searching for the missing hitch-hiker and had written to coroners across the country.

After Mr Smith linked the two cases, surviving DNA samples from the body were matched to Mr Allison's mother, Mary, who lives in Glasgow.

Devon and Cornwall police also traced Champion brand clothing found on the body back to the University of Minnesota, in America, where Mr Allison had previously completely charity work.

The cause of Mr Allison’s death is still unknown and Mr Smith recorded an open verdict.

A death certificate will be issued to Mr Allison’s mother Mary, who has visited he son’s body, buried in Kendal.

“It’s very sad she has lost her son in unknown circumstances but at least she has some kind of closure,” said Mr Smith.