THE body of a man discovered at the foot of cliffs at St Margaret’s near Dover has been identified by police.

He was Alec Reynolds, from Rentain Road, Chartham, near Canterbury. He was in his 60s.

The body was recovered by the crew of Dover lifeboat on Wednesday last week following an extensive two-hour search involving police officers, Coastguard teams and an RAF helicopter as well as the lifeboat.

The alarm had been raised when a car was found near the Dover Patrol Memorial at St Margaret’s and clothing was discovered nearby.

An RAF air-sea rescue helicopter from Wattisham in Suffolk was called to carry out a search of the clifftop area, while the lifeboat searched the shoreline.

The helicopter crew saw the body at the foot of the cliffs, and the lifeboat crew used their inflatable Y boat to land on the shore and recover it.