Speaker 1: Hi, and welcome back to The Unseen Podcast, a podcast
Speaker 1: dedicated to missing people, unresolved cases, and UK true crime.
Speaker 1: Today's day seven of twelve days of missing person episodes
Speaker 1: throughout December. Today we are covering the case of an
Speaker 1: unidentified person who died in nineteen ninety six. His name
Speaker 1: has only been known as Margate. Man and Locate International
Speaker 1: have recently done an appeal to try and find out
Speaker 1: more information. As with other unidentified person cases, this one
Speaker 1: will be a little shorter than our others, just as
Speaker 1: information is more limited. This episode is about unidentified person
Speaker 1: case and so does not contain any descriptions of violence,
Speaker 1: but does discuss suicide, so listener discretion is advised. Margate
Speaker 1: is a seaside town which is located in the Thanet
Speaker 1: district of Kent on the southeast coast. It has been
Speaker 1: largely known for its poor and its popularity as a
Speaker 1: holiday destination for UK tourists for at least two centuries.
Speaker 1: Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town which is
Speaker 1: mostly residential and known for the Palm Bay Resort, a
Speaker 1: suburb of mostly residential buildings as well as large avenues
Speaker 1: and green space built in the nineteen thirties. The area
Speaker 1: of Botany Bay, which is only a six minute drive away,
Speaker 1: is more well known in the area due to its
Speaker 1: chalk cliffs, often used as a filming location. Garden Road
Speaker 1: is situated close to the seafront and is made up
Speaker 1: of a series of semi detached, large Victorian houses which
Speaker 1: line each side of the road. Today this road appears
Speaker 1: to be mostly residsidential, but in nineteen ninety six there
Speaker 1: were some guest houses which could also be found there.
Speaker 1: One of these guest houses was called the Jolly Roger.
Speaker 1: On the twenty fourth of September nineteen ninety six, a
Speaker 1: man checked into the guesthouse. He gave the name as
Speaker 1: mister Karasawara, and the owner had written this down when
Speaker 1: he was checked in. This may have been misspelled and
Speaker 1: may have actually been a variation of this name, such
Speaker 1: as mister Kirosawa or mister Kurasawa. The guest told the
Speaker 1: owner that he was Japanese and he asked him if
Speaker 1: there were any Japanese restaurants in the area that he
Speaker 1: would be able to visit during this time. There weren't any,
Speaker 1: and the guest was told this. It was reported that
Speaker 1: he visited a local KFC restaurant instead. There was nothing
Speaker 1: necessarily unusual about this man or his choice to check
Speaker 1: in at the Jolly Roger, aside from the fact that
Speaker 1: he didn't bring any luggage with him, only bringing in
Speaker 1: a carrier bag. Three days after the guest checked into
Speaker 1: the hotel, the guest house owner entered the room that
Speaker 1: he had rented. Whether the owner had become worried after
Speaker 1: not seeing the guest or he had not checked out
Speaker 1: when he was due to, is unclear. However, either way,
Speaker 1: the owner gained access to the room on September twenty seventh.
Speaker 1: When the owner entered, they discovered the man deceased. As
Speaker 1: the death could not be readily explained, a police investigation
Speaker 1: had to be carried out to establish what had happened
Speaker 1: to him. As the investigation began, it became clear that
Speaker 1: there was another mystery to be solved. Who was he.
Speaker 1: The police only had the name of mister Kirasawara or
Speaker 1: mister Kirasauer to go on and the information that had
Speaker 1: been provided to the guest owner when he checked in.
Speaker 1: The man's body was sent to be analyzed to establish
Speaker 1: a cause of death, while his belongings and his clothing
Speaker 1: was also looked into for clues. He was described as
Speaker 1: of Asian origin and was found to be wearing white jeans,
Speaker 1: a black sweatshirt, and a blue denim jacket. He was
Speaker 1: aged in his late twenties and was around five feet
Speaker 1: eight inches tall. He weighed around eleven stone. He had
Speaker 1: one distinctive feature, which was a scar on one eyelid.
Speaker 1: The coroner later ruled that his death was most likely
Speaker 1: to be suicide, and it was reported in Kent Online
Speaker 1: that his death had been the result of an overdose
Speaker 1: of antidepressant pills. The name that was given was one
Speaker 1: of the only things that investigators had to go on,
Speaker 1: and they didn't know if this was his actual name
Speaker 1: or if it had been written down correctly. However, through investigation,
Speaker 1: it was found that the name Kirosawur is from southern
Speaker 1: Japan and if Koret may give an indication as to
Speaker 1: his ancestral origin in the country. There was one other
Speaker 1: thing that investigators found which was interesting and may help
Speaker 1: to identify margate man. At the inquest, it was revealed
Speaker 1: by a dentist that the man had received some expensive
Speaker 1: cosmetic dental work. This work could indicate that Margate Man
Speaker 1: was a wealthy man given the extent of the work done.
Speaker 1: As reported on Locate International's website, the dentist stated it
Speaker 1: was of a very high standard and anyone who knew
Speaker 1: the man would have recognized his broad, toothy grin. This
Speaker 1: was of course of interest to investigators, as it meant
Speaker 1: that someone may remember doing the work on this man's teeth,
Speaker 1: and that, along with the description of him, may jog
Speaker 1: someone's memory. Since nineteen ninety six, however, it would appear
Speaker 1: that no one like that has come forward to state
Speaker 1: that they know this man or remember doing his dentistry work.
Speaker 1: Forensic artist Hugh Morrison has done a living depiction of
Speaker 1: what Margate Man, as he has come to be known,
Speaker 1: looked like, and this gives a very good indication of
Speaker 1: what he may have looked like in life. If someone
Speaker 1: knew this man, they may well recognize him from this image.
Speaker 1: It's unclear why he was in Margate, if he was
Speaker 1: a tourist, if he lived anywhere near there, or if
Speaker 1: he was simply visiting someone in the area, but Locate
Speaker 1: International have made a fresh appeal just this year for
Speaker 1: information about this man and anyone who knows anything about
Speaker 1: him on their website. They have asked five questions to
Speaker 1: hopefully gain some new information. Are you a dentist and
Speaker 1: do you remember carrying out this treatment on someone who
Speaker 1: matches this description? Does the name or any spelling variation
Speaker 1: mean anything to you. Were you in the Margate or
Speaker 1: ken area in September nineteen ninety six? Did you work
Speaker 1: with this man or see him in passing in the
Speaker 1: local area. Does he remind you of anyone you once
Speaker 1: knew or someone you have lost touch with. Do you
Speaker 1: have any ideas, suggestions, or connections that may help our
Speaker 1: team advance their investigation. Locate International's chief executive Mark Greenalsch said,
Speaker 1: all the evidence suggests he was a visitor to Margate,
Speaker 1: so we would like to hear from anyone who may
Speaker 1: have encountered him while he was in the town, no
Speaker 1: matter how small the interaction. He may have been visiting
Speaker 1: from abroad or from somewhere else in the UK. So
Speaker 1: maybe you remember a friend, colleague, neighbor, tenan or fellow
Speaker 1: guest who matches his description who you never saw again.
Speaker 1: No piece of information is too small, as it can
Speaker 1: help confirm something we believe or consend our investigation. In
Speaker 1: a whole new direction. My Gateman has been left unidentified
Speaker 1: for almost thirty years, and it may only take a
Speaker 1: small piece of information from someone who knew him to
Speaker 1: find out who he is. If you think you know
Speaker 1: Margateman or can help answer any of the questions from
Speaker 1: Locate International, then email appeals at locate dot International or
Speaker 1: call zero three double zero one zero two one zero
Speaker 1: one one. I will leave the links in the show notes.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to today's episode. Listening in a
Speaker 1: few days to day eight, where we will cover another
Speaker 1: missing or unidentified person case. If you'd like to support
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Speaker 1: and follow us on social media. As always, I'm Caprice
Speaker 1: and this has been unseen