Islington Tribune - by SARA NEWMAN Published: 23 May 2008
Police probe death at flat
THE death of a man whose body was found at a Holloway flat on Saturday is being treated as suspicious. Richard Baker, 55, was discovered lying next to a wall, with signs of decomposition and bruising to one eye.
Only the postcode of the flat share was revealed at the opening of a St Pancras inquest on Monday.
The body had been reported to the London Ambulance Service just before midnight on Saturday. Mr Baker had several hundred pounds in his wallet, said Detective Inspector Christopher Simpson.
It was clear that the door had been kicked in at some point but there was no evidence of third-party involvement, he told the inquest.
The full inquest will be heard once a toxicology report is submitted to the coroner, Dr Andrew Reid.
Islington police have so far been unable to trace Mr Baker’s next of kin despite contacting social services, GPs and the prison services.
DI Simpson told the inquest: “The details we do have about Mr Baker may indeed by factually incorrect.”