Inquest told mummified body of man wanted after Somerset woman's death was found six months later
Richard Scatchard, 70, was on the run after Kelly Faiers from Weston-super-Mare was found dead at his home in October 2023
Last updated 9th Jul 2026
The mummified body of a sex offender wanted by police in connection with the death of a Somerset woman was discovered in a caravan six months later, an inquest heard.
Richard Scatchard, 70, was being hunted after his partner Kelly Faiers, 61, was found dead at his home in Minehead, Somerset, in October 2023.
Scatchard was on life licence after being convicted for drugging and sexually assaulting women and was being sought by police after Ms Faiers died from an overdose of sleeping tablets and alcohol.
Somerset Coroner’s Court heard the last confirmed sighting of Scatchard was in the Watchet area of Somerset – around 10 miles from Minehead – the day after Ms Faiers’ body was found.
Avon and Somerset Police launched a manhunt, but could not locate him and inquiries found no evidence he was alive after October 2023.
Scatchard’s body was found at a campsite in Watchet when the caravan was removed from winter storage.
The inquest was told Scatchard, who was described as fit and well for his age and with no known medical conditions, was identified from fingerprints.
In a written statement, Detective Constable Mark Evison said Scatchard was wearing a wristwatch, which was set to British Summer Time.
“This was immediately thought of as being significant by inferring that the time on the device had not been altered since at least the October 29 2023,” he said.
“While the police had been unable to locate Richard Scatchard, the UK has been following Greenwich Mean Time, but due to a recent change to British Summer Time on March 31 2024, this would have corrected a clock back to the current time accuracy.
“Due to the mummified nature of his body, it’s highly likely that he died prior to March 31 2024, ultimately inferring that the watch was last set prior to October 29 2023, and so therefore would have passed prior to this date because he never corrected the watch to GMT.”
Colleague Det Sgt Craig Thomson said Scatchard had no known links to the campsite, and it was not known how he had travelled there.
“We do not know for certain what day he went into the caravan,” he said.
He added there was no evidence of any third party involvement in his death or any intention to self-harm.
Pathologist Dr Deborah Cook carried out a post-mortem examination on Scatchard and said his body was “heavily decomposed”.
She said there were no visible signs of injury, no penetrating injuries or any evidence of self-harm.
“Post-mortem examination confirmed near-total mummification of the body,” Dr Cook said.
“The internal organs were severely affected by decomposition, but there was no obvious natural disease to account for his death.”
She said there was evidence of fractures to five of his ribs, which would have been sustained close to the time of death.
“In an individual without pre-existing compromise to respiratory function, the probable effect of five rib fractures would be a degree of chest pain, a potential difficulty in taking deep breaths,” she said.
“But five rib fractures would not be anticipated to cause death.
“With the degree of decomposition present, it’s not possible to exclude a concussive head injury having caused or contributed to death.”
Toxicology samples were taken that showed the presence of alcohol and the compound contained in sleeping tablets, cough mixture or hay fever tablets.
But due to the level of decomposition it was not possible to obtain accurate samples for assessment, the court heard.
Dr Cook added: “Given the advanced state of decomposition with likely interval between death and post-mortem of over five months, it’s not possible to confirm or refute a hypothesis that death was due to sleeping tablet toxicity, or to a combination of sleeping tablets and alcohol.”
She gave cause of death as “unascertained”.
The court heard Scatchard had kept the relationship with Ms Faiers secret from his probation officers as he was meant to disclose “any emerging intimate relationships”.
He had been given two warnings for breaching his licence conditions and told he risked being sent back to prison.
Probation officer Curtis Martin said Scatchard had been assessed as posing a medium risk and his supervision requirement should remain.
“He was assessed as being too argumentative and controlling with the professionals, and there were concerns that without these risk monitoring and controls being in place, he would be an increased risk towards the public,” he said.
An inquest into Ms Faiers’ death held earlier this week concluded the mother-of-four, from Weston-super-Mare, had been unlawfully killed.
The inquest continues.