DETECTIVES hunting the killer of an Oriental man found in a canal near Selby have widened their search for clues.

Officers investigating the murder of the man will be holding a press conference today in a direct appeal for information to Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese people living in the UK.

The man’s body was discovered by an off-duty police officer while he was fishing in the canal near Burn Bridge, close to the A19 between Burn and Brayton, at 12.45pm last Friday, An artist’s impression of the victim has been put together with help from an anthropologist and use of specialist computer software.

Despite intensive police inquiries the victim remains unidentified. He was described as aged between his late teens and early thirties, 5ft, 7ins tall, with black, straight, collar-length hair, and was wearing a Calvin Klein T-shirt and long- johns.

Detective Superintendent Karnail Dulku, who is heading the investigation, said the man may have been trafficked in to the UK.

A post-mortem examination revealed the man, who died as a result of severe head injuries, could have been in the water for up to two weeks before he was discovered.

Det Supt Dulku said more than 30 police officers were involved in the murder investigation, along with a further eight police frogmen. The divers were involved in searching the entire eight-kilometre length of the canal between the River Ouse and the River Aire for clothing and personal effects from the man and also a potential weapon.

Det Supt Dulku said he wanted anyone who lived, worked, walked or fished in the area to report anything suspicious they had seen in the past three weeks, during the day or the night, which could now assist in police inquiries.

Anyone with any information is asked to phone North Yorkshire Police on 08456060247.