Police have identified the body recovered from the sea by the Hoylake lifeboat on Wednesday night.
A Merseyside police spokesman said today that the body was that of a man in his forties from North Wales who had been missing from home.
The body was spotted by a working boat on Wednesday night about six miles off the Wirral coast, and coastguards alerted the Hoylake lifeboat, which was launched at about 9.20pm that evening.
The body was recovered by the volunteer lifeboat crew and brought back to shore at Hoylake lifeboat station at around midnight.
Police then took the body to Liverpool where a post mortem examination was held yesterday.
Enquiries about the tragedy are now being dealt with by North Wales Police.
Read our report about Wednesday night’s rescue operation here
