In late September 1996, a young man was found dead just days after checking at a guesthouse in Cliftonville.
Despite extensive investigations in the almost three decades since, he has never been identified.
Volunteer investigators with the charity Locate International, that looks into cold cases of missing and unidentified people, have been conducting their own inquiries into the case of the man known only as Margate Man.
The charity is built of specialist teams from different disciplines and volunteers from local communities and works with universities, experts with academic research and exploration into cold cases to locate the missing and name the unidentified.
Now, 28 years to the day since the day his body was discovered, they are releasing a new living depiction of the man, produced by forensic artist Hew Morrison, in the hopes of identifying him.
The man checked into the Jolly Roger guesthouse in Gordon Road, on 24 September 1996.
The owner of the guesthouse reported that the man, who was of apparent Asian origin, arrived with no luggage, only a carrier bag. He was wearing white jeans, a black sweatshirt, and a blue denim jacket. He was believed to have been in his late 20s, 5’8” in height and weighed about 11 stone. He had a scar on one eyelid.
The visitor gave his name as only ‘Mr Kirasawara’. He is said to have told the owner of the guesthouse that he was Japanese and asked if there were any Japanese restaurants in the area. There were none at the time, and so he visited the local KFC instead.
He was found dead in the bed in his room by the guesthouse owner on 27 September 1996, three days after he checked in. A coroner later recorded a verdict of suicide, concluding he had taken an overdose of red antidepressant pills.
Investigators with Locate International believe the name Kirasawara may have been misspelt, and could have been Kirasawa, or another variation such as Kurosawa.
Research carried out by the team suggests the surname originates from Southern Japan, and that ‘Kira’ indicates an owner of land, or ‘shining’ or ‘radiant’, while ‘Sawa’ roughly translates to wet area/marsh. This may indicate what his familial or ancestorial background was.
They are asking whether the name might mean anything to someone now?
A dentist gave evidence at the inquest that the man may have been wealthy as he had received expensive cosmetic dental work. A news report on the inquest said of the dental work: “It was of a very high standard and anyone who knew the man would have recognised his broad, toothy grin.”
Mark Greenhalgh, Locate International’s CEO, said: “All the evidence suggests he was a visitor to Margate, so we would like to hear from anyone who may have encountered him while he was in the town, no matter how small the interaction.
“It’s possible he may have been visiting from abroad or from somewhere else in the UK, so maybe you remember a friend, colleague, neighbour, tenant or fellow guest who matches his description who you never saw again.
“No piece of information is too small: it can help confirm something we believe or can send our investigation in a whole new direction.”
Anyone with information, is asked to contact Locate International by emailing [email protected], calling 0300 102 1011 (in the UK) or by visiting
https://locate.international/unidentified-people/margate-man
