Man arrested after body found dead in city centre canal
A 27-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder following the discovery of a body in the city centre canal.
The body of Sean Michael Markey, a 39 year old from Newton Heath was found on Sunday 6th October in the Canal within the Gay Village in Manchester city centre.
Police were called to the scene after a couple on a narrowboat spotted the body floating in the canal. Police were on the scene late afternoon and cornered off the area around the GAY bar and the junction with Princess Street.
Crowds gathered as the police partially drained the canal and divers were sent in to retrieve the body.
The post mortem into the cause of Sean’s death was inconclusive and the police are waiting for further tests to be carried out.
Witnesses had reported the body was concealed within a bag, however Greater Manchester Police were quick to deny this saying that the body may have become tangled or been next to a bag in the water.
While the cause of death is still undetermined, this is not the first body to be found in this particular canal.
The body of Simon Brass, a 46 year-old from Salford was found in the same canal on the 5th of June this year. He was killed during a mobile phone mugging.
The gang who committed this crime have been sentenced to jail.
Detective Inspector Brian Morley of Greater Manchester Police said,
“It is not yet clear how or when Sean died so we are urging anyone who may have seen or spoken to him since he was last seen in the early hours on Wednesday, to get in touch with the police and help us piece together his final movements”.