THE brother of a man found dead in a river earlier this year has made a desperate plea for answers.

The body of Ryo Belger, 27, was discovered by a walker in the River Ray on January 29, a few hundred yards from Elborough Bridge, in Purton Road, and a postmortem examination carried out days later ruled out foul play as a cause.

At the time detectives said they believed the body, retrieved from reeds in an operation involving police, fire and ambulance personnel, had been there for at least 24 hours.

But his younger brother George Belger, 26, says he is still in the dark about how his brother came to be in the river a mile-and-a-half away from where he was staying with a friend.

“I feel there is something not quite right,” George, a father-of-three, said.

“He was a mile-and-a-half away from where he was living and there was no drug paraphernalia with him when they found him.

“At the moment all I have is speculation. I don’t even know how or when my brother died – they found him in the reeds and he could have been there for ages.

“Someone must know what happened. I feel I am clutching at straws and getting nowhere.”

George, a recycling collector for Stroud District Council, stayed in touch with his brother by letter as the two served separate jail sentences. The last he heard from Ryo was his reply to an invitation to visit the family.

He said: “I sent him a letter asking him to come down to see the kids. It was just before the birth of my daughter, who is one now.

“He wrote back: ‘Have a few months to get to know her. I’m sorting myself out and I will be down’. But he never made it.

“It is a shame he never got to see them.”

A spokesman for Wiltshire Police said: “There are no suspicious circumstances and the matter has be passed to the coroner. We await the inquest where George and his family will be able to attend when these matters are discussed.”

Swindon Coroners Office confirmed the inquest had been opened and adjourned in early February and was awaiting files from Wiltshire Police.

Ryo is set to be cremated on May 16 at a private service for his family.