An inquest has ruled that an unidentified man, whose partial remains were found in weighted bags in the River Stour in Suffolk, was unlawfully killed.
Discovery of remains
A dog walker stumbled upon two mummified legs and feet, alongside two mummified arms minus the hands, all bundled in black bin bags, in the river at Sudbury on August 27, 2020. Two days later, police divers unearthed skull fragments, facial bones and two loose teeth in a thin blue plastic bag located 150 metres further downstream.
The inquest into the death of the individual, dubbed the Croft Man after the area of Sudbury where his remains were uncovered, was held in Ipswich on Tuesday. Suffolk's senior coroner Nigel Parsley determined that the Croft Man perished as a consequence of a "violent assault".
Efforts to identify the victim
He disclosed that searches had been carried out against national and international databases for missing persons and criminal records, yet no matches were identified. He noted that radiocarbon dating indicated the man was born before the early 1950s and passed away somewhere between 2008 and 2012, placing him in his late 60s to 70s at the time of his death.
The coroner highlighted that the severing of the man's hands and the trauma inflicted upon 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".
Statements from witnesses and police
In a statement read to the hearing, dog walker Julie Dunn-Beechin recalled spotting two black bin bags in the water along a stretch of the River Stour by water meadows on August 27, 2020. She observed that her dogs showed unusual interest in the spot and the bags "didn't seem right to me". Park ranger Samuel Morgan, whom Julie contacted, 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."
Superintendent Mike Brown, of Suffolk Police, calculated that the bags were disposed of between August 13 and 19. He referenced a volunteer litter picker who regularly canoes in the area, who confirmed the location was clear on August 13. The bin bags were first spotted on August 19, though this wasn't reported to police at that time. An extensive search of the riverbed was carried out, and a dive team uncovered further human remains in a thin blue bag on August 29.
Mr Brown verified that the "remains from the first deposition site and the second deposition site are the same person", a conclusion confirmed through DNA analysis. He disclosed that the air fresheners discovered in the black bin bags were produced in north Wales at a plant which ceased operations in early 2012. He observed that the bricks, manufactured during the 1970s, were "very common", with millions having been produced.
Pathologist's findings
Home Office pathologist Dr Ginni Fitzpatrick-Swallow disclosed that the limbs found within the black bags had undergone mummification, while the skull fragments retrieved from the blue bag by police divers bore no remaining skin. Discussing the skull pieces, she noted there were "at least 14 linear cuts" which may have been caused by a "heavy weapon with a sharp edge" such as a meat cleaver, axe or machete. She verified 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 elaborated that it couldn't be determined whether the skull trauma occurred while the victim was alive, as no soft tissue remained. "To completely destroy a skull like that seems from a dismemberment point of view unnecessary," she said. She observed that "to remove the hands and destroy the facial features" can be associated with obscuring the victim's identity. The pathologist suggested some of the remains "may have been frozen" and could have been wrapped in plastic for some time. She recorded the medical cause of death as unascertained.
