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

A shocked passer-by alerted police after making the grim discovery just after 6am on September 7 last year.

Officers identified the man as Station Chine resident Derek Taylor, 87, who was born in Whitstable.

One neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “I didn’t really know him and he kept himself to himself.

“He lived alone and it is very sad.”

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

Police covered it with tarpaulin before forensics investigators were called.

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

Assistant coroner Chris Morris recorded an open conclusion at an inquest.

He found Mr Taylor died from immersion in seawater.