A man in his 70s has been found dead in a field after not being seen for a number of weeks.

Named locally as Dennis Rampley, he was discovered off Lower Herne Road, Herne Bay, by neighbour John Young yesterday afternoon.

Police confirmed they were called to the scene at about 12.50pm.

Mr Young said: "One of my neighbours said they hadn't seen him and so I went over to his house to bang on his doors and windows, but got no answer.

"There's a field round the back of his house, so I went there to see if I could see anything from there."

The 76-year-old stumbled across his neighbour's body in the field.

Mr Young had started to worry about Mr Rampley when he stopped seeing him in Lower Herne Road going on his daily trips to Canterbury.

"He was very much a loner but a very, very talented and clever man," he added.

"He was a freeman of the city of London and went to Oxford University.

"He also showed me a letter written to him from President Clinton."

A spokesman for the police says the death is not being treated as suspicious and that a report will be prepared for the coroner.

Read more: All the latest news from Herne Bay