On a freezing November morning in 2023 at around 9am, Paul Pengelly’s body was spotted bobbing in the dark waters of the River Thames against an old wooden pier near Blackfriars Bridge. Face down with signs of rigor mortis in his fingertips, he appeared to have been dead for a couple of hours at least.

Paul had been wearing a green velvet jacket to a glitzy awards event the night before. But when police pulled him from the water, the recruitment executive, 37, was dressed only in trousers, a shirt and a bow tie, his phone and wallet missing.

Within hours of his body being recovered – and with several key questions unanswered, say his family – police had ruled Paul’s death ‘unsuspicious’, meaning he had accidentally fallen or jumped into the river.

Today his family remain unconvinced. He

See Full Page