FEATURE: Head In The Bag Case: Day 1

By Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
January 2, 2009

THE old railway line from Leith to South Queensferry is normally a tranquil spot.

Dog-walkers and the occasional cyclist are the most regular visitors to the footpath which follows its route today, although local residents have always known it had a darker side. Its isolation has long attracted street drinkers and drug addicts, as well as prostitutes when Leith's red light district operated nearby.

More recently it has become a popular gathering place for gangs of teenage drinkers.

Today, though, it is the police who are encamped there, as they search for clues as to how a severed human head came to be lying in the undergrowth.

Detectives descended on the pathway after a woman walking her dog decided to prod at a blue carrier bag lying in the undergrowth at around 10.30am on New Year's Eve.

What she saw led her to call the police who were both horrified and baffled by what they found.

It was immediately obvious to officers that they were looking at a human head. The skin showed no signs of decomposition, but other natural decay meant it was impossible to determine the age or gender of who it had belonged to, even whether it was an adult or child.

It is believed to have had long hair and the eyes were apparently missing, a likely result of decomposition over several years even in an embalmed body.

A human bone apparently lay alongside the head.

Police cordoned off the area around the footpath at Hawthornvale and forensic specialists were called in to remove the head from the scene.

First, however, officers from the force identification bureau photographed the head.

The area remained sealed off yesterday as officers questioned locals and specially trained police search dogs, which are used to sniff out human remains, were deployed at the scene.

Initial examination by forensic specialist suggested the head was highly likely to come from a woman.

Officers believe the woman could have died between ten and 15 years ago, but it is thought the bag may have been left in the past week or so, with witnesses reporting seeing the bag around Christmas time.

Police are treating it as a suspicious death and are now sifting through missing persons files in the hope of discovering the person's identity.

Detectives are also thought to be examining the possibility the head may have been stolen from a grave or a medical laboratory, and are currently awaiting the results of dental record checks and toxicology and other forensic tests in an effort to establish the identity of the deceased and the cause of death.

If this was a case of grave robbery, it would not be the first time it has happened in recent years in Edinburgh.

In 2004, two teenagers caused GBP 10,000 of damage to the Mackenzie Mausoleum in Greyfriar's Churchyard when they broke into the tomb and cut off the head of a mummified male corpse.

About 20 years ago a human head was found in Broughton Street and was later found to have been stolen from a crypt in nearby Warriston Cemetery.

One source close to the police said: "If I was a betting man, I would say it's probably an old head taken from a crypt in one of the cemeteries.

"People break into them for all sorts of bizarre reasons."

The apparent embalming of the head remains the most intriguing aspect. The technique, popular in Victorian times, is now rarely used in Europe, occurring only if there is expected to be a long time between death and burial.

Detective Superintendent Allan Jones said: "By mummified, we mean that normal microbial decomposition hasn't taken place.

"The remains are a number of years old and while it is difficult to determine the age at this time, we would estimate somewhere in the region of 10 to 15 years old, but we won't know for certain till we do forensic tests.

"Our next objective will be to identify the remains and gather as much information as we can through house-to-house enquiries, and from people who use the walkway regularly."

He added: "We are going to have to do some forensic tests on the head - including dental work, chemical analysis and pathological examination - to determine the sex, age and any other identifying features of the remains.

"At present, this is still an investigation into a suspicious death. It will not officially become a murder inquiry until we've identified evidence of an attack."