Two years after a shocking discovery at Gatwick Airport, the identity of a man found frozen in the right-hand wheel of a jet that had arrived from Banjul in The Gambia remains a mystery. The British coroner’s court of West Sussex determined on Wednesday that the man had died of hypothermia.

The incident unfolded when the flight arrived at Gatwick’s north terminal at around 3.30 am on December 7, 2022, and the man’s body was found approximately half an hour later. He was wearing a dark-coloured fleece top and tracksuit-type bottoms, with no socks and plastic-style sandals.

Despite international and national efforts, including a public appeal by Sussex Police, the man’s identity could not be established.

Ebrima G. Sankareh, Gambia’s government spokesman, expressed uncertainty, stating, ‘It is, therefore, not clear at this stage, who he is.’ According to the information, the deceased black male was found within the wheel bay of the aircraft without identification documents to establish his name, age, nationality or travel itinerary. It is, therefore, not clear at this stage, who he is,’ Sankareh said at the time.

Joanne Andrews, area coroner for West Sussex, reached a narrative conclusion over the man’s death, indicating that evidence suggested he got into the aircraft before take-off in The Gambia. She expressed sadness at the man’s inability to be identified and his family advised.

The coroner said, ‘On the evidence, it is more likely than not I will have to record his death as an anonymous male.’ She added that if any further details come to light to help identify the man, the inquest could be reopened into the ‘unknown gentleman.’

Despite detailed checks of the aircraft before take-off from The Gambia, the plane’s pilot reported nothing ‘out of the ordinary.’ Sussex Police previously issued an e-fit image of the man, believed to have been in his 20s or 30s, and information has been shared with authorities in the west African country.

The circumstances of how the man came to be in the plane’s wheel well remain unclear, with Mrs Andrews stating, ‘There is no evidence how he became to be within the plane but he sadly died of hypothermia.’

The case continues to baffle investigators, leaving many questions unanswered about the mysterious and tragic fate of the unidentified man found in the aircraft’s wheel well.