A COLLEGE maintenance man whose body was found in a stream four months after going missing, was believed to have been suffering from hallucinations – seeing an imaginary man.

Derek Brant, of School Road, Kidlington was found dead in water on a nature reserve near Donnington, South Oxford, on November 30 last year.

Scores of people joined the search for the St Anne's College staff member, who had last been seen in South Parade, Summertown, the previous July.

READ MORE: Four HSBC banks closing in Oxfordshire next year

An inquest on Thursday heard the 63-year-old was thought to have been suffering from memory loss and visual hallucinations months before his disappearance.

His GP, Dr Tom Hutchinson, told the inquest that Mr Brant had a "likely" diagnosis of early onset dementia due to a traumatic head injury caused by a traffic accident in 1984 which required emergency surgery.

The inquest heard a colleague of Mr Brant describing him as being "confused, vague and forgetful".

He said Mr Brant had reported seeing an imaginary man at home and at work whom others could not see. However, he said the man never spoke to Mr Brant or told him to do things.

Mr Brant's niece, Sadie Wilkinson, told the doctor that her uncle had once showed up to work at 3am as he claimed to have seen a text asking him to come in.
READ MORE: Forensic officer spotted at stabbing site

He was then referred to a cognitive disorder clinic where an MRI was requested to investigate a diagnosis of dementia. However, he went missing a month prior to the appointment.

His body was found naked and face down at the Shire Lake Ditch in Aston's Eyot, by a member of staff from nearby St Mary & St John Primary School, who had been out collecting firewood with pupils.

He was pronounced dead by PC Jay Callan.

Clothes belonging to Mr Brant were found alongside the stream but his trousers and mobile phone were never recovered.

READ MORE: Academy partially closes due to staff sickness

Forensic pathologist Dr Brett Lockyer told the inquest that Mr Brant's medical cause of death could not be ascertained due to the condition of the body, which was in keeping with having been in the water since July.

He said: "It's not possible to say if it was a heart attack, meningitis or drowning. However, I did not find evidence that someone else was involved."

Assistant coroner Joanna Coleman ruled Mr Brant's death as an 'open conclusion' due to insufficient evidence.  

-

Read more from this author

This story was written by Gee Harland. She joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.

Gee covers Wallingford, Wantage and Didcot.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @Geeharland

A message from our Editor

Thank you for reading this story and supporting the Oxford Mail.

If you like what we do please consider getting a subscription for the Oxford Mail and in return we’ll give you unrestricted access with less adverts across our website from the latest news, investigations, features, and sport.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok for more. 

You can also join the conversation in our Facebook groups: stay ahead of traffic alerts here, keep up to date with the latest from court here, share your favourite memories of Oxford here, get your daily dose of celebrity news here and take some time out with news that will make you smile. 

If you’ve got a story for our reporters, send us your news here. You can also list an event for free here.