THE man found dead in a kennel in the back garden of a Leigh house has been identified.

Police confirmed today that the body, discovered on Saturday afternoon, was that of 22-year-old Stuart Bailey.

Yesterday the BEN told how shocked Kevin Jones had walked into his back garden and found Mr Bailey's body.

In past months Mr Jones, 55, had on occasions allowed Stuart - who had been spotted sleeping rough in the district - to sleep in the kennel.

But Mr Jones said he had had no idea that the young man had crawled into the family's pet lurcher's kennel at their home in Keble Grove, Leigh.

It is believed that Mr Bailey had been dropped off by a taxi outside the house in the early hours of Saturday morning.

He had then asked permission of Mr Jones's sons, who were watching television, to see if he could sleep in the kennel over night.

But it was nearly 12 hours later, at 3.30pm, before Mr Bailey's body was discovered after Mr Jones spotted a foot sticking out of the kennel.

Mr Jones's 21-year-old son Lee crawled into the kennel to identify the body as that of Stuart - nicknamed Bomber.

A post mortem was due to be carried out this morning. A police spokesman again confirmed there are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances.

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