Mystery remains over death of man, 34, whose body was found in bog

Mystery remains over death of father, 34, whose body was discovered in a peat bog more than five years after he went missing, inquest hears

• James Hodgkiss was 34 when he was last seen alive on 3 August, 2016 

The death of a father whose body was discovered more than five years after he went missing still remains a mystery, an inquest heard. 

James Hodgkiss was 34 when he was last seen alive by his partner, Jenny McDonagh, in the early hours of 3 August, 2016.

Almost five-and-a-half years later, on January 24 last year, his remains were found in a peat bog on Red Moss nature reserve in Bolton, Greater Manchester.

The remains were discovered by conservation landscapers cutting back trees and hedges on Futura Park, Bolton at around 3pm that day.

Mr Hodgkiss was formally identified by his dental records, a forensic archaeologist, and forensic anthropologists.

James Hodgkiss (pictured) was 34 when he was last seen alive by his partner, Jenny McDonagh, in the early hours of 3 August, 2016

Almost five-and-a-half years later, on January 24 last year, his remains were found in a peat bog on Red Moss nature reserve in Bolton, Greater Manchester

However, an inquest at Bolton Coroner’s Court on June 21 , heard evidence about both the period leading up to his disappearance and the time following his discovery, could not answer how or when he died.

The court heard that Mr Hodgkiss struggled with a drug addiction in the years leading up to him going missing, and despite living in Salford, he would often frequent the Weston Street area of Bolton for drug use.

Giving evidence, his mother, Christine Hodgkiss, said she had picked him up from Weston Street on 1 August, 2016 and tried to take him to hospital due to his state.

He refused to go into the hospital and after taking him back and forth on a few occasions she dropped him off at his father’s address in Blackrod in the early hours of August 2.

This was the last time Christine saw her son, and she would report him missing on August 5.

His father, John Hodgkiss, told the court that on the morning of August 2 he dropped his son at Weston Street, as he often did, but had no contact with him again after this.

He told the court that his son would often turn up at his address, walking all the way from Bolton, always taking one of two routes.

The peat bog where Mr Hodgkiss was found in 2022 was around three-quarters of a mile away from his father’s address. However, John told the court that his son would never take this route as it would make ‘no sense’.

Jenny McDonagh, Mr Hodgkiss’ long-term partner, told the court he had been taking drugs for a long time before going missing. She said that around 2am on August 3 he threw stones at the window of her house in Salford and they spoke briefly.

After this brief conversation Mr Hodgkiss walked away without saying where he was going. This was the last confirmed sighting of Mr Hodgkiss.

The coroner, Professor Alan Walsh, discussed other alleged sightings of Mr Hodgkiss around Weston Street during the day of August 3. However, these were described as contradictory and he considered the early hours interaction with Ms McDonagh as the last confirmed sighting.

After this sudden disappearance a missing persons investigation was launched with the family spending the intervening years searching for him.

This included distributing more than 2,000 leaflets, extensive police searches around Bolton, including the Weston Street area, and an underwater search at Bradford Reservoir, along with numerous media appeals.

Forensic archaeologist Alison Baldry, who carried out a search in the area where Mr Hodgkiss’ remains were found, said only bones were found, some of which were underwater in a ditch. She added there was no evidence that Mr Hodgkiss had been buried by anyone else.

Home Office pathologist Dr Philip Lumb suggested that Mr Hodgkiss may have suffered hypothermia leading up to his death, but this couldn’t be ‘substantiated’ with evidence and would be unlikely due to it being in the summer.

Dr Lumb gave Mr Hodgkiss’ cause of death as ‘unascertained due to skeletal remains’ and that ‘nothing can be supported by evidence’.

This included not knowing when, where, or how Mr Hodgkiss died. He added that there were limited tests that could be done and they were not worth doing as they would not provide any clear answers.

Detective Inspector Anthony Lunt, from Greater Manchester Police, described the peat bogs as ‘precarious’ and said there were lots of minks and foxes in the area that are ‘active in scavenging’.

Police never searched the peat bogs as part of the missing person search as it was ‘never an area of suspicion’. DI Lunt said: ‘There is no evidence how he came by his death or what happened.’

Professor Walsh, recording an open conclusion into Mr Hodgkiss’ death, said: ‘The investigation was as thorough as it could be bearing in mind the unknowns. I couldn’t exclude natural causes, accident, or third-party involvement.

‘He seemed to live a double life. He cared for his children and was good with his children, but then he had another life which was born out of drug dependency.’

The coroner described what happened at his last sighting as a mystery and finding out was ‘just currently not possible to answer’.

Professor Walsh said: ‘There is insufficient evidence to say what happened. We don’t know how he came to be in that area or how he came to die.’

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