DETECTIVES trying to establish a motive for the murder of a parish councillor found floating in the sea off Cornwall are investigating his links to the occult.

Peter Solheim, 56, a retired printer who collected antique guns, was a member of pagan group which worshipped at Cornwall’s ancient stone circles. Members of the group say that he left them after developing an interest in the occult.

The body of Mr Solheim, a divorced father of three, was recovered by fishermen five miles off the Lizard peninsula on June 18. Police initially believed that he had been the victim of a boating accident because his dinghy had been found drifting in Mylor Harbour three miles away the previous day.

A post-mortem examination found “unexplained” injuries on the body and experts told police that it was not feasible for the two to have drifted so far apart.

Detectives confirmed yesterday that Mr Solheim’s pagan background is one of their lines of inquiry. They are also appealing for information about a man called Charlie who had a boat Mr Solheim had said he planned to use.

Detective Inspector Neil Best, who is leading the investigation, said: “Charlie could be very significant because he may have been the last person to see Mr Solheim alive.” Detective Sergeant John Trott, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said yesterday: “His interest in the occult has been made known to us. It is a line of inquiry that we are now pursuing. His injuries are still unexplained, but at this stage we are unable to go into more detail as it could be crucial to the investigation.”

Mr Solheim’s deepening interest in dark arts alarmed members of his former druid group based at St Merryn who were content to dance around stone circles. They say that he left the group five years ago and began to practise rituals on his own.

One member, who asked not to be named, said: “He started to get involved with satanism and liked to go off and perform rituals on his own. He was always making knives and swords, and he showed them to us. We all became really worried about him.

“Once he tried to perform black magic spells on two other people, and that really upset them. I don’t know what his rituals involved, but he would always do them on his own. Eventually he stopped coming to gatherings.”

Mr Solheim, a member of Budock Parish Council, had been unemployed for the past few years, having been injured in an industrial accident in a printworks. He lived in Carnkie, near Helston, with his new partner. His three adult children also live in the village.

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