Ex-paratrooper found dead on the Long Mynd by walker

A former paratrooper who went missing from his home in Kent was found dead in a sleeping bag on the Long Mynd in Shropshire five months later, an inquest has heard.

The body of Trevor Barker was found by walker Peter Dickens off Burway Road in a sleeping bag covered by gorse at about 5pm on September 28 last year. He had been missing from his home in the south-east since April 1.

The 47-year-old father-of-one, from Willesborough, in Ashford, had a brief conversation with Mr Dickens at exactly the same spot several months earlier, an inquest at Bridgnorth Council Chamber was told on Friday.

In a written statement read out at the inquest by HM coroner for south Shropshire Mr Anthony Sibcy, Mr Dickens said he had offered a man in the sleeping bag a chance to have a drink at his home in Church Stretton only for Mr Barker to say he was fine.

The inquest heard there were only skeletal remains in the sleeping bag, and he was identified by dental examinations by forensic odentologist Andrew Walker.

Detective Constable Will Quan, of West Mercia Police, said the last known movements of Mr Barker had been on April 26 last year when he tried withdrawing money from a cashpoint in Church Stretton.

In his statement Mr Dickens said: "I was on my way down the Burway on September 28 when I noticed the sleeping bag in the same spot. I tried calling out like I had before but there was no response and when I realised the person inside was dead I panicked."

Mr Sibcy recorded an open verdict, saying there was no evidence to confirm when Mr Barker had died or what had caused his death.