Detectives investigating unidentified human remains found on remote moorland are holding on to hope that advances in DNA will one day reveal who the mystery man is.

An inquest in Bradford on Tuesday heard how eight years of trawling through missing persons files throughout Europe and North America and trying to match DNA from the body discovered on Rombalds Moor between Silsden and Ilkley had so far drawn a blank – but there was still a possibility of getting a result in the future.

It was a geography student out at High Moor tree plantation studying the effects of wind on trees who found the bones, at first he thought they belonged to a sheep.

But when degree student Roger Procter looked closer he saw a human skull, then a shoe and trousers. He made his way across moorland eventually getting a lift from his dad to Keighley police station to report his grim discovery and returned to the scene later that day on November 2, 2003 with a detective and doctor.

There was evidence of a noose on a branch above where the part skeleton was found, a kind of agricultural twine had been used.

A forensic post-mortem examination revealed the part skeleton was that of a white man, of medium build, who had been between 5ft 4in and 5ft 8in, with medium to short dark hair. He had been between 55 and 60 and was right-handed. He had been wearing a black Carling Premiership T-shirt, trainers, hiking socks and Le Coq Sportif tracksuit bottoms.

A piece of paper found in his pocket was studied by archeologists who were able to work out it was a kind of receipt connected to a Thames TV Gloria Hunniford show in London.

Detective Inspector John Mountain, who took over the unsolved cold-case in 2010, said because of advances in DNA, more work was done to get a full DNA profile of the man.

The inquest heard because of the lonely location in a thick plantation, if it had not been for Mr Procter the body would have lain there undetected a lot longer. It could already have been there for months.

Anyone reaching that location would have had to walk off tracks.

Detective Constable Gary Jeggo – who had been involved in the case since 2003 – had also used his local knowledge to try to identify the man, attempting to link him with local missing characters including one man in particular from the area who has never been found, but the DNA result was negative.

Acting Bradford Coroner Professor Paul Marks recorded an open verdict because the body had not been identified but said the balance of probability was the deceased had taken his own life.

“This is a fascinating case but also frustrating,” he said.

After the inquest Det Insp Mountain said the man’s DNA was still kept on the police’s National Missing Person’s Database and a match could be found in future either through someone related being arrested or through a relative coming forward.

The case will continue to be periodically reviewed by police, he said.