Police reopen mystery corpse cases (From York Press)

Police reopen mystery corpse cases

4:03pm Thursday 17th November 2011 in News By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter

POLICE are using new technology to try to identify eight bodes found in York and North Yorkshire over the past 30 years.

They include a man whose body was found in the River Ouse near Lendal Bridge in York in 1992 and another whose body was found downstream at Naburn in 2003.

North Yorkshire Police says that identifying the human remains through such ‘cold case’ reviews is a "moral" duty, and say they will take advantage of technology that was not available when the remains were found.

A spokeswoman said the body of a man recovered near Lendal Bridge on August 24, 1992, was believed to have been dead for about four days.

“An examination revealed that this was the body of white European male of medium build, 183 centimetres high with shoulder length grey hair,” she said. “His age was estimated to be 45 to 65 years of age.

“He was wearing slip on brown shoes, blue checked trousers, a dark Gainsborough jacket, a crew neck multicoloured jumpers, bright red shirt. He was also in possession of plain black shoulder bag with a white NIKE tick emblem.

“Following the discovery of this male, a comprehensive investigation was completed towards establishing his identification but this still remains unknown. A review of this case has been completed and there is now potential for DNA elimination.”

The body of a badly decomposed man was found in the river at Naburn on September 12, 2003, and a post mortem examination revealed it was that of a white male aged between 20 and 70, and 5’6” to 5’9” in height.

The recorded dental charts have been submitted for checking against reported missing people in addition to the DNA profile obtained. These all remain on file and are checked regularly for matches towards achieving a positive identification.

The spokeswoman said forensic toxicology had indicated the presence of Amitriptyline, a drug that is used in the treatment of depression and other mental health conditions.

Other cases under review by the force include a woman whose skeletal remains were found near Sutton Bank in 1981, the remains of a baby boy which were found wrapped in plastic bags in Ryedale in 1999, a male skull found in the North Sea in 2008 and the body of a man discovered floating in Scarborough harbour in 1989.