Body in river had ‘blunt force injuries to the head’

A YOUNG man whose body was recovered from the Thames had suffered “blunt force” injuries and had been in a row with a group of men, an inquest heard.

Dutch national Mohamed Mussa, 27, who lived in Wandsworth, was reported missing by his partner on October 17 and was last seen walking alone.

His body was spotted in the river by rowers on October

19, the opening of the inquest at West London coroner’s court heard.

The hearing was told that Mr Mussa, inset, had had an “altercation” with a group and that there had been “unusual activity” on his bank account. Senior coroner Chinyere

Inyama said that after being spotted by the rowers a lifeboat crew took his body to Chiswick Pier. He told the court: “There was lots of blood coming from the back of his head that was going into the river. “There were scratch marks on the neck… he was known to have had an altercation with some males.” He said that as well as “blunt force injuries to the back of the head” he had “bruising to the larynx”. The inquest was a adjourned until February 4. Detective Chief Inspector Jim Shirley, of the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “Our last sighting of Mohamed is of him walking past Simmons Bar on Putney High Street towards Putney Bridge at 5.29am on Sunday, October 17. We are now asking for the public’s help to ascertain exactly what happened.”