A body found floating in the water off Herne Bay was a man in his 80s, it has emerged.

A shocked passerby alerted police after making the grim discovery at 6.15am last Wednesday.

Officers have now identified the man as a pensioner from the Herne Bay area.

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They said his next of kin have been informed and that a post-mortem has yet to be carried out.

VIDEO: Police at the scene when the body was discovered.

As emergency crews arrived at the scene last week, the body had washed up onto the pebbled beach opposite the former British Legion club.

Police surrounded him with a tarpaulin sheet before forensics investigators were called.

Paramedics were also on the scene, but an ambulance was sent away shortly after 7am.

A man, thought to have alerted police, was later seen talking to officers in the back of a patrol car.

A private ambulance took the body away at just before 9am.