A coroner's court has named the homeless man who was found dead in a river in Bromley last year.

The Inner South London Coroner's Court posted notice that an inquest had opened regarding the death of the 36-year-old, who was named as Christopher Bone, from Bromley.

Christopher was sadly found on September 5, 2020, lying unresponsive in the River Ravensbourne, close to a nearby retail park in Bromley.

My London reported that Assistant Coroner Dr Julian Morris told the court that he was found by a dog walker in the river which runs along the back of the retail park.

"In respect of Mr Bone, the information I have been provided is that he was homeless and was seen on his back lying in the river by a dog walker," Dr Morris was quoted as saying on the London news website.

"Emergency services were contacted. There were no suspicious marks or scars or untoward injuries. Clothing was seized and a mobile phone found on a river bank nearby – there was no note or text."

The number of homeless people dying while rough sleeping is increasing in the UK according to various reports.

For example, a reported 976 people died while homeless across the UK in 2020 according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism's Dying Homeless Project, a 37 per cent increase on the number the group reported in 2019.

Official Office for National Statistics (ONS) data meanwhile reported that there were an estimated 778 deaths of homeless people in England and Wales registered in 2019, an increase of 7.2 per cent from 2018 when there were 726 estimated deaths.