David Lytton (21 April 1948 – 11 or 12 December 2015), formerly known as David Keith Lautenberg and after the discovery of his body by the

placeholder name Placeholder names are words that can refer to things or people whose names do not exist, are tip of the tongue, temporarily forgotten, are not relevant to the salient point at hand, are to avoid stigmatization, are unknowable/unpredictable in ...

Neil Dovestone, was a previously unidentified British man found dead on

Saddleworth Moor Saddleworth Moor is a moorland in North West England. Reaching more than above sea level, it is in the Dark Peak area of the Peak District National Park. It is crossed by the A635 road and the Pennine Way passes to its eastern side. Geography ...

, in the

South Pennines The South Pennines is a region of moorland and hill country in northern England lying towards the southern end of the Pennines. In the west it includes the Rossendale Valley and the West Pennine Moors. It is bounded by the Greater Manchester co ...

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

on 12 December 2015. The placeholder name was reportedly devised by mortuary attendants at

Royal Oldham Hospital The Royal Oldham Hospital is a NHS hospital in the Coldhurst area of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. It is managed by the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital has its own volunteer-run radio station, Radio Cavell, whic ...

, with reference to the location the body was found near

Dovestone Reservoir Dovestone Reservoir lies at the convergence of the valleys of the Greenfield and Chew Brooks above the village of Greenfield, on Saddleworth Moor in Greater Manchester, England. The reservoir is on the western edge of the Peak District Nation ...

, on an asphalt track in the

Chew Valley The Chew Valley is an affluent area in North Somerset, England, named after the River Chew, which rises at Chewton Mendip, and joins the River Avon at Keynsham. Technically, the area of the valley is bounded by the water catchment area of t ...

Mystery body

The man later identified as Lytton died from a lethal dose of

strychnine Strychnine (, , US chiefly ) is a highly toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the eye ...

, and is believed by police to have died by

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

. He was estimated to be between 65 and 75 years old and was almost tall, with a thin build; he was balding with grey hair and brown eyes. Signs that the man had been in Pakistan not long before his death included a

titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

surgical plate, only available legally in Pakistan, attached to his left

femur The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with ...

near the hip, and a container used to carry the strychnine, originally used for a common medication (

thyroxine File:Thyroid_system.svg, upright=1.5, The thyroid system of the thyroid hormones T3 and T4 rect 376 268 820 433 Thyroid-stimulating hormone rect 411 200 849 266 Thyrotropin-releasing hormone rect 297 168 502 200 Hypothalamus rect 66 216 386 25 ...

), had a printed label with text in English and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

The man was not known to the authorities in Pakistan and his fingerprints did not match any on record in Pakistan, the UK or other countries. No evidence linking him to missing persons cases was found. Wimberry Stones - geograph

At 9:04 am on 11 December the unidentified man travelled by

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

train from

Ealing Broadway station Ealing Broadway is a major single-level interchange station in Ealing in London, England. It is in the London Borough of Ealing, West London, and is served by the London Underground and also National Rail on the Great Western Main Line. On the ...

Euston station Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railw ...

in London and then to

Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city ...

. He walked to the moor on the afternoon of 11 December, from Greenfield, where he made enquiries at the Clarence pub about walking to Wimberry Stones. He was seen alive shortly after sunset (3:59 pm), by two

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment throug ...

staff, near the site at which his body was found the following day. Wimberry Stones is a rock feature known locally as "Indian's Head" overlooking the reservoir. It was the site of a fatal aeroplane crash in 1949. Investigating detectives surmised the man may have been Stephen Evans, a survivor of the crash, but it was discounted after the BBC worked out, based on the 1949 report and the police statement, that he worked at the

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine. The inst ...

and contacted him. He then contacted

Greater Manchester Police Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England. , Greater Manchester Police employed 6,866 police officers, 3,524 memb ...

to confirm he was still alive.

Identification and following investigation

In January 2017 the body was identified as 67-year-old David Lytton, who had flown into

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

from

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

in Pakistan on 10 December 2015. He was identified from photographs from a passenger list and images from

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

in London.

confirmed his identity using DNA matching, characterising him as "a bit of a loner" who "liked his own company". On 31 January 2017 ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' reported that Lytton had lived in

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

, south London, from the 1980s, until he moved to Pakistan in 2006. Former neighbours said he was a

croupier A croupier or dealer is someone appointed at a gambling table to assist in the conduct of the game, especially in the distribution of bets and payouts. Croupiers are typically employed by casinos. Origin of the word Originally a "croupier" meant ...

who had once worked as a train driver for

and after being made redundant from the casino had taken in lodgers, one of whom was of Pakistani appearance.Tomlinson, Hugh and Simpson, John: "Saddleworth Moor's mystery man died as quietly as he lived", ''

'', 31 January 2017, p 21 The article reproduced personal information from Lytton's passport, showing a London birthplace and a birth date of 21 April 1948. The passport was issued on 8 September 2006 and would expire on 8 September 2016. The article reported that Lytton had arrived in Lahore on 6 October 2006, leaving almost six months later for

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

. He returned to Lahore after four days, on 31 March 2007. The following November he left again, but there was no record of his returning. Further details emerged in articles in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' during February 2017. On 4 February, it was reported that Lytton's long-term girlfriend, also from Streatham, had helped him through bouts of depression, he had a brother, and that he had changed his surname following a family feud. (His change of name explained previous reports that no one named David Lytton had been born in London on 21 April 1948.) On 9 February ''The Guardian'' gave his former name as David Lautenberg and revealed that he had family living in England, including a brother living in North London. His parents were also identified as Sylvia and Hyman Lautenberg. Sylvia Lautenberg's family was of Jewish descent, had emigrated from Poland to England in about 1901, and had lived in or near East London. The family changed their name to Lawton in 1969. In March 2017 the BBC reported additional details, many of them taken from interviews with Lytton's former girlfriend Maureen Toogood and various sources in the London area as well as Pakistan. According to the BBC, Lytton and Toogood met in 1968 when Lytton worked as a croupier in

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

. He had recently left Leeds University where he had studied psychology and sociology but did not graduate. He held different jobs later on and his last employment in London was as a train driver for

. Lytton and Toogood became a couple and conceived a child but Toogood had a miscarriage which Lytton did not take well. They separated at some point and Toogood got married but they stayed in touch and Toogood visited Lytton on a regular basis and helped around the house. According to her, Lytton was interested in religions and owned several copies of the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

. In 2006 he sold his house. He did not tell Toogood but mentioned to neighbours that he could not afford the mortgage anymore. When he had suddenly left Toogood suspected he had gone to the United States but he had in fact relocated to Hassan Town, a neighborhood in Lahore, Pakistan. There he led a secluded life but was in regular contact with neighbors whom he told he had converted to Islam in 1996, a statement police did not confirm. When he returned to London on 10 December 2015 he was received by a friend at the airport and who told the police Lytton planned to spend some time travelling around. At the coroner's inquest on 14 March 2017 police reported that Lytton had repeated visa problems while living in Pakistan. His visa expired and he attempted to leave the country with a manipulated visa and got caught which resulted in him getting blacklisted. He eventually obtained a new visa that was about to expire in late 2015 when he was travelling to London, meaning it was his last chance to leave legally without having to reapply. Lytton's brother Jeremy Lawton reported he hadn't spoken to his brother for more than ten years but believed he was living in the United States because he had received several letters from him that had been posted in the U.S. Lytton's long-time friend Salim Aktar told that they had travelled to Pakistan together three times. He was the friend who Lytton had asked to pick him up at the airport upon his return. Several witnesses have described Lytton as living a minimalist lifestyle and as a loner who enjoyed living alone and keeping to himself. Jeremy Lawton described that his brother meticulously "compartmentalised" his life in a way that his friends and family would not interact. Salim Aktar, Lytton's close friend for more than 30 years, did not know of Maureen Toogood's existence. In 2020 it was speculated that Lytton's interest in the area of Oldham was due to poster advertising in London's public transportation which he must have often seen for years while working as a train driver. Maureen Toogood was recovering from a stroke at the time of Lytton's identification and died in 2020.

Footnotes

External links

William Atkins, 2016, ''The Guardian'', "The mystery of Saddleworth Moor: who was 'Neil Dovestone'?" (14 May)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lytton, David 1948 births 2010s missing person cases 2015 deaths 2015 in England Deaths in England Formerly missing people Missing person cases in England Strychnine poisoning Suicides by poison Suicides in England

Mystery body

Identification and following investigation

See also

Footnotes

External links