Dublin kayaker suffered neck injuries, inquest hears

A kayaker from Dublin whose body was washed ashore on the Isle of Wight suffered neck injuries, possibly caused by a knife, an inquest has heard.

British police launched an public appeal to identify the man after his body was found strapped into a kayak onto Yaverland Beach, near Sandown on September 11th. He was identified as Morgan Savage (40), a doctor who specialised in geriatric psychiatry, by a member of his family on October 19th.

The inquest, which opened on Tuesday, heard Mr Savage suffered fatal injuries to the right side of his neck, which may have been caused by a knife, and injuries to his left wrist. A postmortem into his death was inconclusive

Mr Savage was last seen at Brighton Canoes in Newhaven, Sussex, on September 8th. He had rented a yellow and black inflatable kayak.

The coast off Newhaven and Brighton – about 60 miles east of the Isle of Wight – is popular with canoeists and kayakers.

A spokeswoman for Hampshire Police said they were treating the death as non-suspicious and were awaiting the results of further tests.