Exhumation clues to headless victim

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Officers from Sussex Police's major crime branch hope scientific advances made since the man's death in 1991 will help identify him and his killer.

The body was found by a member of the public with its head and hands removed in woodland off Broxmead Lane in Bolney, near Haywards Heath, West Sussex.

Speaking at a press conference at Haywards Heath police station, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Griffiths said they now have a revised description of the victim. He said they now believe him to have been in his 30s but possibly as old as 45, between 5ft 6in and 5ft 8in and well-built.

But police said they are still no nearer to discovering a cause of death and further tests are taking place.

Asked how confident he was about tracing the killer, Mr Griffiths said: "All I can say is, in deciding to undergo the exhumation, we knew that it is theoretically possible to get this information."

Despite extensive appeals for information in the 1990s, the man went to his grave in Western Road Cemetery, Haywards Heath, in 1994 with police unable to establish his identity.

Detectives reviewed the case last year in consultation with the Forensic Science Service in an effort to discover whether technological advances made since the early 1990s could help provide a breakthrough.

Police issued pictures of a light-blue shirt identical to the one the man was wearing when he was discovered, which has a distinctive motif on its pocket.

The exhumation took place with the agreement of West Sussex Coroner Penelope Schofield and local church officials, and the cemetery was closed and reinternment of the corpse has now taken place.