A SUSPECT in a Hampshire murder trial has been found drowned, the Daily Echo can reveal.

The body of Robert Craig was found washed up on the banks of the River Itchen in Southampton a month after he was cleared of the murder charge.

The 54-year-old was pulled from the water at Saxon Wharf in the Northam area of the city after people working on a boat nearby spotted the body and raised the alarm.

Although police are not treating the death as suspicious it is not known how Mr Craig came to be in the water. Officers do not believe he committed suicide jumping from the nearby Itchen Bridge.

A spokesman for Hampshire police said: "There is nothing to suggest that the circumstances surrounding the death were in any way suspicious. It is more likely the gentleman died from drowning after falling into the river."

Mr Craig, of Denzil Avenue but originally from Scotland, was cleared of the murder of Alec Newman of St Mary's Close, St Mary's, after a jury found him not guilty following two trials.

His co-defendant Thomas Davies, 35, was found guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

Winchester Crown Court heard how Mr Newman, 51, had been punched and kicked to death after spending the day with Mr Craig, Davies and two other friends at a barbecue on the banks of the Itchen - leading the case to be dubbed the Barbecue Murder Trial.

After the barbecue some of the group, who were described as "a community of long-term alcoholics" in court, returned to the home of Davies in Cranbury Avenue, Southampton.

The body of Mr Newman was later found lying behind the property in the Newtown area of the city. A post-mortem revealed that Mr Newman had suffered six broken ribs, bruising to the head and injuries to the abdomen. He had been kicked and punched several times.

Detectives were able to follow a trail of blood that led from Mr Newman's body to the flat belonging to Davies. Forensic scientists also found blood on the shoe of Mr Craig, jurors heard, although he was acquitted of the murder - a charge he had always denied.

No witnesses were thought to have been at the scene when Mr Craig fell into the river, making it difficult to determine how he came to be in the Itchen. His body was recovered at about 8.15am last Thursday.

Southampton coroner's court confirmed that they had received the file from police and were making inquiries into whether a full inquest would be heard into Mr Craig's death.