Tragic student who moved to Manchester for a better life was found dead on beach

A student who moved to the UK from India and later settled in Manchester was tragically found dead on a beach in Blackpool, an inquest has heard.

Sairam Guntupalli arrived in the UK in December 2020 on a student visa to take up a place on an advanced computer science course at Hertfordshire University. Police were unsuccessful in trying to find him when his visa was cancelled in February 2022, after being expelled from his course over unpaid fees.

At some point he moved to Manchester, where he worked and lived in a shop, and kept in contact with his family back in India, LancsLive reports.

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An inquest hearing heard that on June 2 this year, Sairam made his way to Manchester Piccadilly station where he bought a single ticket to Blackpool, having told his family he planned to visit the beach at the seaside resort.

After arriving in Blackpool, CCTV showed Sairam make his way directly to the Promenade close to the Tower, before walking down some steps onto the beach, at around 3pm.

Just over eight hours later, Patrick Smith was walking on the beach with his family close to Squires Gate. As he passed the tram depot he spotted Sairam's body, fully-clothed, on the sand. Tests revealed he had drowned and had sustained a serious head injury.

An inquest into Sairam's death was held at Blackpool Town Hall on October 2 before Senior Coroner Alan Wilson, who was unable to determine how the Indian national died.

In a statement the man who found Sairam's body, Patrick Smith, described the moments leading up to the grim discovery.

"At around 11.20pm I was walking down the beach with my partner and her children after deciding to go for a late night walk," he said. "After we walked to the Mirror Ball I said I would walk on the beach and meet them further down."

"I took off my shoes and socks and made my way south. At 11.35pm I walked behind the tram depot and I saw a silhouette of what I thought was... a drunk man having a sleep on the sand."

"I shouted and shook him and tried to wake him up but he felt very heavy like a dead weight. I've never seen a dead body before."

Detectives were able to identify Sairam from his fingerprints as he had previously been investigated for fraud. This related to an alleged crime in which a victim's money had been transferred into Sairam's bank account - but resulted in no further action.

Sairam's mum, who lives in the Pradesh region of India, said she last spoke to her son on May 30 when he spoke about his plans to visit Blackpool. She revealed the conversation between the two was 'normal' and there was no indication that Sairam was visiting Blackpool with the intention of ending his life.

The investigation resulted in Lancashire Police asking British Transport Police to examine CCTV at Manchester Piccadilly station. Footage showed Sairam buying a ticket before boarding a train on Platform 14 at 12.52pm.

Sairam arrived in Blackpool at 2.45pm and got off the train at Platform 5. Detectives tracked his movements on CCTV which showed him walking down Talbot Road, then along Topping Street and down Deansgate at 2.50pm, before he was last seen in Bank Hey Street and Victoria Street.

The last CCTV sighting of Sairam was at 3pm when he was seen going down the steps onto the beach close to Blackpool Tower. There was no further trace of him between 3pm and his body being found, three miles south, at 11.35pm.

Detectives revealed that due to tide patterns it was unlikely that Sairam's body had been swept from the sea Blackpool Tower south to the tram depot. The inquest heard that, from past incidents, a body would typically travel from south to north.

Senior Coroner Alan Wilson said he 'could not speculate' as to what had happened to Sairam or how he came to be in the water.

"Sairam Guntupalli had been in the UK since December 2020," the coroner said in his conclusion. "He spoke to his family on May 30 when he mentioned visiting Blackpool beach over the weekend. There was nothing unusual about the conversation. It is not known what happened to him.

"Whilst in the sea he received a head injury most likely from the sea bed or some rocks. Sairam Guntupalli drowned but from the available evidence it could not be established how he came to be in the sea."