POLICE hunting for a dangerous sex offender wanted in connection with a murder inquiry in West Somerset have found a man dead.

The man was discovered inside a caravan near Cleeve Hill, Watchet, shortly after 2 pm on Thursday (April 4) by a member of the public, who called police.

An Avon and Somerset Constabulary spokesperson said although formal identification had not been completed, it was suspected the man was Richard Scatchard.

Scatchard disappeared last October after a woman was found dead in his flat in Blenheim Road, Minehead.

He had previously been sentenced to life imprisonment for drugging women and carrying out sex assaults on them.

The police spokesperson said Scatchard was wanted on recall to prison and officers wanted to speak to him as part of a murder inquiry into the death of the woman, Kelly Faiers, who was from Weston super Mare.

Det Supt Gary Haskins, of the force’s major crime investigation team, said: “Kelly’s family have been informed of the latest development and we will keep them, and Richard Scatchard’s family, updated as our inquiries progress.

“Specialist family liaison officers continue to provide support to Kelly’s family at this difficult time.

“A forensic post mortem examination will be carried out in due course, but we believe the man’s death occurred some time ago.

“Until that has been completed we will be treating the man’s death as unexplained, albeit we are not aware of any suspicious circumstances at this time.

“We would like to thank those people who have responded to the appeals for information we have issued over the past five-and-a-half months and will continue to update the public as our inquiries progress.”