A BODY found floating off the North Yorkshire coast has been identified – a quarter-of-a-century after it was pulled from the water.

A cold-case investigation – and major advances in DNA profiling – have finally given a name to a man who drowned in Scarborough harbour in May, 1989.

But with no clue as to how David Robin Michael Dawes ended up in the water, an inquest’s original open verdict into his death has now been re-affirmed by local coroner Michael Oakley.

The mystery began to unravel in 2011 when police launched a series of cold case reviews of unidentified bodies reported to the force over several decades.

The review included the extraction of a DNA profile – not available to the police at the time the body was found - from tissues retained by Scarborough Hospital.

Mr Dawes’s daughter saw an appeal on the UK Missing Persons Bureau website and contacted North Yorkshire Police in February last year

Although she could not be certain, she believed the Scarborough body could be her father, David, born in September 1933. At the time he went missing, he was 56 and living in Bolton.

Although the DNA extracted in 2011 was degraded, forensic scientists used advanced techniques to compare it against that of the woman and her siblings.

And they showed with almost complete certainty that the body was that of Mr Dawes, a former teacher who was born in London.

He had lived in many places but his life was affected by excessive drinking and, later, mental health problems.

Detective Constable Vincent Morris said he hoped the investigation had answered many of the family’s questions.

“To know what happened to their father when he went missing in April 1989, although very sad, will hopefully provide them with some comfort and allow them to come to terms with their loss.”