A man spotted his father alive on television - five years after he thought he had cremated him. A body discovered three years after his disappearance in 2000 was thought to be the pensioner, but it's now emerged it wasn't. From Manchester Danny Savage reports:

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But earlier this year his son, John Renehan, saw a picture of his father on a BBC programme. An appeal was being made for anyone who knew the man - who had amnesia - to come forward.

JOHN RENEHAN:
Well I knew straight away that was me dad. I knew straight away. Obviously his face, it was a bit disfigured, but I just knew straight away that was me dad.

It emerged that John Delaney had been living in a care home for the last eight years. Police have admitted they made mistakes and their enquiries were insufficient. Mr Delaney's son now wants to know the identity of the man he cremated - thinking it was his father.

Danny Savage, BBC News, Manchester

Listen to the words

living rough
living outside, not in a house, and sleeping on the streets; having no fixed address

badly-decomposed
decayed to the extent that it was almost impossible to identify it

An appeal
a formal public request for help or, as in this case, information

amnesia
memory loss

to come forward
to be willing to offer help or, as in this case, to give information

straight away
immediately, without delay, at that very moment

me dad
my father (in certain English dialects people colloquially say 'me' instead of 'my')

disfigured
changed, different in appearance

care home
an institution where elderly people who have no relatives or friends able to look after them live and are cared for

cremated
when a dead person's body is burned to ashes as part of a funeral ceremony

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