Piano man trail goes cold

The National Missing Persons Helpline and care workers said they had been inundated with calls following the publication of a picture of the 'piano man'.

It proved a fittingly exotic twist in an increasingly intriguing tale.

Days after health workers in Kent, south-eastern England, appealed for help in identifying their patient - the mysterious, mute "Piano Man" - succour came from an unexpected source.

A Polish mime artist approached Italian police in front of Rome's world famous Trevi Fountain and named the shy, silent enigma as a French friend and musician.

West Kent NHS Trust had appealed to the media for help in identifying the young man, discovered wandering aimlessly in the dark on 7 April, wearing a dripping wet, formal black tie suit with the labels removed.

While he has not said a word or offered up any clues as to his identity, he plays the piano "beautifully". The news reached Rome where illegal immigrant, Dariusz Dydymski, 33, spotted a photograph.

To the authorities, he insisted he was "99 per cent sure" the face staring from the newspaper was none other than Steven Villa Masson (sic), a pianist he had worked with in the French resort of Nice. Italian police immediately contacted Interpol.

Not for the first time, however, the trail led down a dead end.

Last night The Independent tracked down M. Steven Villa Massone in Nice. The 24-year-old insisted that he was flattered by the attention but was most certainly not the young man currently in the care of a Kent hospital.

Having not heard from his former flatmate Dariusz for more than a year, he said: "I found out this morning when I saw in the Italian papers that he had said that man was me. I didn't understand what had happened, and suddenly I had lots of calls asking if I was the English pianist."

For health workers in Britain it meant a return to the drawing board in the hope that their patient's identity is somewhere in the dozens of names which have been suggested from countries as far afield as Australian, Japan and Canada.

So far the National Missing Persons Helpline has received more than 600 calls, half of which suggested names. Now it will be a slow process narrowing down the suggestions to more credible leads for investigation. At least half a dozen British names have already come up repeatedly.

"The overwhelming response from the public, both in the UK and abroad, means there is a large quantity of information to sift through and this process will begin today," a spokesman for West Kent NHS Trust explained.

Michael Camp, a social worker who has looked after the Piano Man, since he was found near the beach in Minster on the Isle of Sheppey, added: "It is a slow process. We need to be thorough so we do not miss the one that is right. I would love to know who he is."

A team of health professionals is being established to follow up on leads while others continue to try and find the adequate treatment at a secure mental unit. His carers believe he may have suffered amnesia or a breakdown due to a sudden trauma but are unable to offer full treatment without identifying the cause.

He stunned carers with a four-hour virtuoso performance during his early days in hospital, and continued to play repeated renditions of well known classics as well as what are believed to be his own compositions. It was the only time, health workers said, that the agitated young man looked relaxed and happy.

Yet, Mr Camp said yesterday, all efforts to communicate with him continue to prove fruitless.

While he no longer has a piano, he has quickly fashioned himself a substitute, the social worker explained: "He has drawn a life-size scale keyboard and plays that in his mind. That is probably all he has got at the moment."

- INDEPENDENT