A skull found in the net of Dutch North Sea trawler in September last year is that of 22-year-old British national Liam Graham, an inquest into his death has shown.

Graham, from Rochester in Kent, disappeared after being involved in a car crash and was put on the missing persons list after efforts to find him came to nothing, local Kent media reported.

According to witnesses, the man had been drinking and using drugs before getting in a car with two friends which they subsequently crashed. Graham then left the scene.

Dutch authorities contacted Kent police about the skull in November. DNA tests have now confirmed it belonged to Graham, information from the inquest into his death has shown. Assistant-coroner James Dillon Graham said Graham must have ended up in the Thames and his body taken to the North Sea by the current.

The man probably ended up in the water shortly after the accident, he said, possibly because he was under the influence or hurt in the accident. There is nothing that points to a crime, Dillon said.