INITIAL investigations have yet to establish how a senior diplomat from Droitwich found in a forest months after going missing died, an inquest has heard.

A post-mortem examination carried out on the body of 52-year-old Richard Morris gave a medical cause of death as “unascertained”, senior coroner for Hampshire Christopher Wilkinson said today.

During a four-minute remote hearing, Mr Wilkinson, sitting in Winchester, confirmed Mr Morris was found dead by a member of the public at Alice Holt Forest in east Hampshire on August 31.

Police previously said Mr Morris went missing after he was last seen running near his home in nearby Bentley, near Alton, on May 6.

Mr Wilkinson said consultant forensic pathologist Dr Russell Delaney carried out the initial examination on the body, adding: “The nature of his death is at this stage unascertained.”

The inquest was adjourned until June 2021 for further evidence to be gathered.

A family statement released at the time of his death described Mr Morris as “funny, kind and smart”.

It added: “Above all else, Richard was a family man. A loving and loyal husband, father, son and brother.

“He showed us the world but he was our world and we are devastated by his loss.”

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The former pupil of Droitwich Spa High School was head of the Pacific department at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 2013 to 2015 and was due to take up the role of British high commissioner to Fiji in July this year.

He also held senior diplomatic posts including in Australia and Mexico during nearly 30 years’ service.

At the time of the discovery of his body, police said they were not treating the death as suspicious.

Mr Morris is survived by wife Alison, who he married in 1992, his daughter and their two sons.