Mystery surrounds identity of man whose remains were found in bin bags by dog walker

Mystery surrounds identity of man whose remains were found in bin bags by dog walker Mummified limbs, skull fragments, and loose teeth were discovered in bags in a river - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments An unidentified man whose dismembered remains were found in black bin bags by a dog walker in the River Stour in Suffolk was unlawfully killed, an inquest has concluded. Two mummified legs and feet and two mummified arms without hands were found in the river at Sudbury on 27 August 2020. Two days later, police divers found skull fragments, facial bones, and two loose teeth in a thin blue plastic bag 150 metres further along the river. An inquest into the death of the Croft Man, so named for the purpose of the inquest after the area of Sudbury where his remains were found, was held in Ipswich on Tuesday. Suffolk’s senior coroner Nigel Parsley recorded that the Croft Man died as the result of a “violent assault”. He said that checks had been run against national and international databases for missing people and for criminal activity, and there had been no matches. He said that radiocarbon dating indicated Croft Man was born before the early 1950s and died in about 2008 to 2012, and it was therefore estimated he was in his late 60s to 70s at the time of his death. The coroner said that the removal of the man’s hands and the injuries to his head and face “appear to have been an attempt to hamper his identification”. He concluded it was “more likely than not the Croft Man was unlawfully killed”. “We must remember that the Croft Man was somebody’s son,” said Mr Parsley. “He lived for 60 to 70 years. He may well have had family, he almost certainly had friends. “It’s a tragedy we cannot identify him as there must be some loved ones somewhere wondering where their loved one is.” Dog walker Julie Dunn-Beechin said in a statement read to the hearing that she saw two black bin bags in the water on a stretch of the River Stour by water meadows on 27 August 2020. She said her attention was drawn to them when her dogs started sniffing in the area and it “didn’t seem right to me”. Park ranger Samuel Morgan, whom she called, said: “She said she didn’t know if she had been watching too many Midsomer Murders and had a concern about what could be in the bags.” He said the bags had rocks and bricks in and “what looked like a Toilet Duck soap that had partly dissolved”. Mr Morgan said he saw “through a small hole in the bag what I thought looked like mummified skin and bone” and what appeared to be the ball joint of an arm, and he called police. Superintendent Mike Brown, of Suffolk Police, said it was estimated the bags were deposited between 13 and 19 August. He said that a volunteer litter picker who regularly uses a canoe in the area reported the site was clear on 13 August. He said there was a first sighting of the bin bags on 19 August but this was not reported to police at the time. A fingertip search of the riverbed was carried out and a dive team found further human remains in a thin blue bag on 29 August. Mr Brown said the “remains from the first deposition site and the second deposition site are the same person” and this was confirmed by DNA testing. He said it was established that the air fresheners in the black bin bags were made in north Wales at a site that closed in early 2012. He said the bricks were made in the 1970s, were “very common”, and millions had been produced. “The biggest challenge we have is we do not know the identity of our victim so we’re unable to work around the associations they would have had and then look at those wider lines of inquiry,” he said. He said that DNA testing indicated the person was a white northern European male, likely to have been born with blonde or light hair which may have darkened naturally, and blue or green eyes. “The most likely and preferred hypothesis is that there’s a criminal element,” he said, adding that the injuries inflicted on the skull supported this. He said that the manner of dismemberment of the body could suggest someone with “skill in butchery”. “Our victim has likely met a violent and unnatural death,” he said. He continued: “Because of the length of storage the individual could have been found in a state by somebody who doesn’t want to come to the attention of police and has tried to dispose of them by throwing them away.” Home Office pathologist Dr Ginni Fitzpatrick-Swallow said the limbs in the black bags were mummified but there was no skin on the skull fragments in the blue bag found by police divers. She said, referring to the skull pieces, that there were “at least 14 linear cuts” and these could have been caused by a “heavy weapon with a sharp edge” such as a meat cleaver, axe or machete. She said there had been “multiple blows to the head”. “The appearance is consistent with repeated strikes in rapid succession due to their uniformity,” she said. She said it was not known if the skull injuries were inflicted in life as there was no soft tissue remaining. “To completely destroy a skull like that seems from a dismemberment point of view unnecessary,” she said. She said that “to remove the hands and destroy the facial features” can be associated with disguising the identity of the deceased. The pathologist said some of the remains “may have been frozen” and may have been wrapped in plastic for a period of time. She gave the medical cause of death as unascertained. Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments