The heartbroken mother of a young man whose body washed up on a French beach six weeks after he went missing is desperate to know what happened to him.

Rani Ullyett had spearheaded a huge search for 28-year-old Warren Ullyett after he disappeared from Herne Bay on November 4.

But it ended in tragedy this week after she was told his body had been found near Sangatte, Calais, on Tuesday last week.

The cause of his death is unknown and the subject of a coroner’s investigation.

Mrs Ullyett said: “We have no idea how he got to France.

“The post mortem has not said how long he’s been dead or the cause.

“We’re hoping the gap between the time Warren went missing to when his body washed up will be filled.”

At 10.30pm last Tuesday, Mrs Ullyett was told a body had been found in Calais, but she did not receive official confirmation of his death from the foreign office until Monday this week, three days after the French police had identified the body.

“I’m tempted to put a complaint into the police because it’s been a living nightmare,” she added.

“I was told that the police were ‘happy’ that it was Warren they’d found and I asked them to change the wording to satisfied.”

Warren’s body was not identified by a family member nor through DNA tests, but instead by matching the description of his tattoos and checking the passport he was carrying.

His body is still in France and Mrs Ullyett is unsure when it will be returned, leaving her unable to make funeral arrangements.

She has also been told that his body may have to be cremated in France before coming back to Herne Bay.

Known to his friends as ‘Hightower’ because he stood at 6ft 7in tall, he grew up in the town, where his friends and family were rocked by news of his death this week.

Mrs Ullyett says he had a past chequered with prison stays, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse.

But he had confided in his mother that he wanted to get onto the straight and narrow.

“From a conversation I had with Warren six months ago, I knew that he wanted to make a fresh start,” she said.

“He wanted to get away from bad influences, to get free from drugs, be taken for the hardworking person that he was and do something positive.

“I asked him ‘Warren, you won’t go without letting me know, will you?’ and he said ‘of course not, mum,’ and gave me a hug – he gave such lovely hugs.”

Mrs Ullyett reported her son missing after “alarm bells” were set off by the fact none of his friends knew where he was.

The family could not understand where he could have gone or what he could have been doing because his bank accounts were frozen, he was without a working mobile phone and there were only a handful of unverified sightings of him before his body was found.

His mother also says he did not leave under a cloud of animosity and, as a result, does not believe her son took his own life.

“I went numb when I was told he had died,” she said.

“From when Warren went missing, I didn’t anticipate or even contemplate this outcome.

“Suicide would not be something that Warren would have contemplated because he thought that would be a failure.”

Born in Kent and Canterbury Hospital on January 31, 1989, Mr Ullyett was the eldest of four siblings and a popular figure in Herne Bay.

He attended Herne Bay Infants’ School, Herne Bay Junior School and Herne Bay High.
After leaving school without any qualifications, he put his practical skills to use by doing cash-in-hand work.

He was renowned for his greeting of “hi-dee-ho”, hugs, handshakes and love of animals.

“I’ve had four children and I’ve now got three – it’s really hard to adjust to the thought that my eldest isn’t coming home,” his mother said.

“And at this time of year it’s particularly horrible.

“It’s meant to be a time of giving and love, but I’m without my baby.”

Kent Police say formal identification has not yet taken place and “enquiries are ongoing with the French authorities to establish the man’s identity and the cause of death”.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is assisting the Ullyett family and is in contact with French police.