A man's corpse found under a railway bridge in Hounslow last month is one of 233 unidentified bodies on the books of the Metropolitan Police.

The body of a white European man, believed to be aged 20-30, was discovered under the stairs of the bridge on July 8.

He joins a long list of people who have never been identified after their bodies were found at sites across the capital between 1966 and the present day.

Drug and drink overdoses, suicide and heart attacks were the most common known causes of death given by the Met in its response to a Freedom of Information request by Trinity Mirror's data unit.

But some of the circumstances listed were more unusual, like that of the man found in a canal-side footpath near mitre Bridge, close to Wormwood Scrubs, in 1972, his head having been blown off in a nitroglycerine explosion.

Another body, that of an Afro Caribbean man believed to be aged 25, was discovered in the landing gear of an inbound flight from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 2002.

Several of the bodies had been lying undiscovered for months or even years, like that of a 30 to 35-year-old man whose decomposed remains were found in a gravel pit in Chertsey Road, Feltham, in 1994 - up to three years after he was believed to have died.

A woman in her 60s whose body was found under asbestos sheeting at the rear of a property in Brent in 1983 was believed to have been dead for two to 10 years.

SOME OF THE UNIDENTIFIED BODIES FOUND IN WEST LONDON DURING THE LAST 50 YEARS

08/07/2014 Man's body found under the stairs of a railway bridge in Hounslow

14/11/2006 Man's body found on Brook Green, Hammersmith

29/10/2004 Woman seen to jump from the 21st floor of Wembley Point

15/05/2002 Man's body found in the landing gear of an inbound aircraft from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The flight had previously been to Accra, Ghana

20/07/1994 A man had booked into the Kings Hotel, in Westminster, under the name of Mr John and committed suicide by cutting an artery. He died later in hospital, having left a suicide note

31/05/1994 A man's decomposed remains were found in a gravel pit in Chertsey Road, Feltham. He had been dead for 1-3 years

14/08/1991 A man was found unconscious on the street in Brent. He is believed to have collapsed while out jogging and was dead on arrival at hospital

24/01/1990 A man was found dead in a sleeping bag at the corner of Trafalgar Square, having died of a heart attack. He was a known local vagrant with a possible name of 'Tom'

02/12/1985 A man was hit by a motor cycle when crossing Talgarth Road, Hammersmith

01/06/1985 The body of a man, believed to have been a vagrant, was found at the scene of a fire at a derelict public house in Ealing

09/06/1983 A woman's decomposed body was found under asbestos sheeting at the rear of a property in Brent. She is believed to have been dead for two to 10 years

12/12/1982 A man died whilst visiting a friend in Ealing. He was known as 'Charlie' and is thought to have come from the Shepherds Bush area

24/02/1979 A man died at a hairdressers in Beadon Road, Hammersmith

14/12/1972 The headless body of a man was found on a footpath along the Grand Union Canal near Mitre Bridge, by Wormwood Scrubs. He had been killed by a nitroglycerine explosion

28/01/1971 A man's decomposed body was found in a derelict shed at the allotments near Scrubs Lane, by Wormwood Scrubs. He had been stopped by police in March the previous year, when he gave the name 'Liam Sean O'Brian'