A decapitated man whose body was pulled from the sea earlier this week has been named as Rasmus Weinhardt from Deal.

An inquest into the 61-year-old’s death was opened at Aberdeen House in Ramsgate this morning.

Three crew members for Walmer RNLI were responsible for finding the man on Bank Holiday Monday after it is understood he jumped from Deal Pier.

Some of the man’s belongings including his shoes and a jacket are believed to have been found by the third shelter along the landmark.

Lifeboat volunteers have been praised for their professionalism after recovering Mr Weinhardt’s body from the sea.

Lifeboat operations manager at Walmer, Denis Brophy, who confirmed the body had been decapitated, said: “It was quite traumatic for the three crew members who did an excellent job and acted very professionally.

“It has to be one of the hardest jobs they’ve had to do in their lifeboat career so far.

“They handled it very well and are all a credit to the RNLI.”

The crew were called at 10.07am to reports of a body south of the pier, launching their D-class boat.

"It has to be one of the hardest jobs they've had to do in their lifeboat career so far" - Denis Brophy

Mr Brophy said: “We were quickly on the scene and the crew were able to pick up the body and bring it back to the lifeboat station.

“It was handed into the care of police and the scenes of crime officer.”

Police took command of the lifeboat station until 2pm while crews in two boats returned to the water for a further search.

They were joined by the Border Force’s boat the Eagle in a two-hour search which was unsuccessful.

Senior coast operations officer for the UK Coastguard, Graham Baldock, said his team had continued the search into the evening.

He said: “The team went down at low tide to search on Monday night but nothing else was discovered.”

Searches have now stopped.

A police spokesman said: “His death is not being treated as suspicious.”