An inquest into the death of a man whose body was found hanging in woodland has heard there was no evidence he was murdered.

Chris May, 28, was found hanging by two walkers at Troys Farm in Faulkbourne last May three years after he went missing.

He was last seen at his home in Kelvedon on May 25, 2015 and was reported missing by his family two days later with his car discovered in Fairstead on the same day.

A huge three-year police investigation into what happened to him was launched before his body was finally discovered at the farm near Witham on May 13 last year.

His body was found just one mile from where officers recovered his Volkswagen Golf three years earlier.

Det Supt Stephen Jennings told the coroner’s court in Chelmsford: “The body was found with Mr May’s driver’s license and around £200 in cash in one pocket and only had one shoe.

“Packaging consistent with the rope that was used was found nearby but no receipt has been found.”

He said leaving the packaging at the scene would have been “like leaving a gun at the scene of a shooting” and the hanging was “not consistent with third party involvement.”

However, he said murder could not be completely ruled out.

He also told the coroner a mobile phone which police believe Mr May had on him at the time of his disappearance has never been recovered.

In 2016, Essex Police said his disappearance was being treated as murder and they believed his links to drugs were involved.

Several anonymous letters were sent to the force during the course of its investigation but the coroner was told they were "inaccurate".

Read more: Chris May's family say they will never come to terms with his death

Dr Benjamin Swift, who carried out the post-mortem, said there were no weapon related injuries and no fractures.

He explained that no toxicology reports could be filed due to the decomposition of the body but Mr May was identifiable by his arm tattoos.

Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray told the family at the inquest on Friday: “What a mystery. You as a family must have being going over and over in your minds about what happened to him.

“You have conducted yourselves with real dignity.”