POLICE hope a unique tattoo could help solve the death of a father of three whose body was found at the edge of a remote track.

A walker spotted the body of Dean Jamieson, 30, at around 3pm on Tuesday and police believe he had not lain there for long.

However, the last sighting of him was almost 24 hours earlierwhen he left the Criterion Bar in the centre of Aberdeen with a man they are keen to identify.

Mr Jamieson, of Kemnay, Aberdeenshire, had a distinctive tattoo on his neck and throat and officers hope it may have caught people's attention and help them fill in details of his movements until his death.

Police say the death is suspicious and they are trying to establish the cause with a postmortem examination but they have launched a "murder scale" inquiry involving around 50 officers.

Mr Jamieson, who was unemployed, was found on the verge of a track 6.5 miles from the city centre near Craibstone Golf Course. The track leads to a car park at the base of Elrick Hill and leads off a "rat run" between the A96 Aberdeen to Inverness road and Kingswells and Westhill.

Police say it is not a track people would drive along by chance.

His body was spotted by a walker and police were alerted.

A wide area was cordoned off as a search and forensic examination was carried out before his body was removed.

Detective Superintendent Alan Smith, who is leading the inquiry, said: "Our main priority is to establish the movements of the man during the 24 hours prior to the discovery of his body. This is critical.

"He was in the Criterion Bar near the harbour area around 2pm on Monday for a couple of hours and he left the bar on foot with another male.

"We don't know if he knows this man who was around 30. Who was this individual? We would urge him to come forward. What happened then and how did Mr Jamieson get to the bottom of Elrick Hill? We know he had a tendency to take taxis so was he on a taxi journey and was dropped off?" Police have managed to gather some information from CCTV footage in the area where he was last seen. Mr Smith said the body had not been hidden but he was unable to give any indication of any injuries to the body or what Mr Jamieson was wearing when he was found.

When last seen Mr Jamieson was wearing a grey waterproof jacket, blue jeans, a black Raging Bull T-shirt and white trainers. He declined to reveal any details of the tattoo "other than itis a very, very distinctive tattoo and anyone who engaged him in a conversation in a pub would notice this tattoo."

He said the area in which the body was found was popular with walkers and he was hoping someone may have seen some activity in the area prior to the discovery of the body which could help their inquiry.

"While people may not think their information is significant it may be of great value to the inquiry team." The unclassified road from Newhills to Brimmond Hill off which the man was found remains closed.

There was no-one at the home which Mr Jamieson shared with his wife Carol and their three young children yesterday.