Sunday 21 August 2011

Thank God They Don’t Do This With UXBs…

Police have moved to solve the mystery of how human remains sealed inside a police bag came to be found on the South Wales coast.
Oooh! It’s just like ‘Midsomer Murders’!*settles down with bag of popcorn*
The bag containing a human thigh bone was discovered by a dog walker on Sully Island last week.

Rumours quickly spread through the area that police had “lost evidence” relating to a murder case in 2010 – but police said the bone is actually more than 100 years old.
Wow! That was fast! Were they really using evidence bags back then, I mean, clearly they were losing evidence back th…

Oh. Wait.
They said they had deliberately buried the bone in a marked bag to prevent “causing alarm”.
*boggle*
Police said the bone had previously been found by a member of the public in the same spot in 2010 and was examined.

Once it was established that the bone was more than 100 years old, it was sent to the coroner – who ordered it be reburied where it was found.
/facepalm
“The South Wales Police tag was left in place to prevent the bone being uncovered again in the future and causing alarm or the necessity of repeating the checking procedure.
That worked well, then?

Why not simply bury it somewhere more appropriate, or cremate the remains?

9 comments:

patently said...

Or include a note on the tag, explaining?

A novel use for the POLICE AWARE stickers, I'll admit...

SBC said...

The Coroner, Mr Zippy-do-dah, who is also Chief Wizard of The West Glamorgan Unified Church Of Druids told the paper today that: "It is important for the souls of the those on the Isle Of The Dead for their remains, their remains in this perception of reality, to be reburied in the location they died so that the Earth Mother can find them and that they don't descended into the Cauldron Of Doom. Ask my friends the pixies, they know"

Captain Haddock said...

The mind simply boggles ..

Just when you thought things had already reached a new low in the stupidity stakes ...

That particular Coroner ought to be pulled-through with a Christmas tree, wrapped in rusty razor wire ..

Ian B said...

We found an old body in a drain at the (West End) theatre I was at years ago. In the end, it was reburied in the wall of the understage area, with a christian service and a plaque.

I have fond memories of walking into the manager's office, plonking this thing on her desk and saying, "what do you think that is?" and she said, "I don't know." and I said, "well, we think it's a human kneecap" and she jumped a mile, heh.

The police came and collected all the bones in a bucket, and toddled off up St Martin's Lane with them, then came back the next day and said, "too old to care, bury them again", so, like I said, we did.

I suppose nowadays the service would have to be multidenominational, and so forth, to avoid offending the dead.

Ancient + Tattered Airman said...

Why not simply bury it somewhere more appropriate, or cremate the remains? asks Ambush Predator.

Please note that Reason, Logic or Common-sense are not necessarily applicable in cases handled by the courts. The police are to be commended for the slavish obedience of orders, regardless of the cost or number of police hours involved. Come back Kafka, all is forgiven.

David Gillies said...

Well come on, fair do's, this isn't just your average breed of thick coppers you're talking about. They're Welsh into the bargain.

Haddock, I do like the "pulled through with a Christmas tree" line. We used to say, "shagged with a rusty pineapple" but yours takes the cake,

blueknight said...

Workmen found a skeleton under the town square. It was very old so we left it there...

Anonymous said...

Do they do this with all ancient bones or only with dramatic finds.
'Time team' is always finding bones.

JuliaM said...

"Or include a note on the tag, explaining?"

Perhaps they did, but it was illegible? It's a very odd case.

"... she said, "I don't know." and I said, "well, we think it's a human kneecap" and she jumped a mile, heh."

LOL!

"Do they do this with all ancient bones or only with dramatic finds.

'Time team' is always finding bones."


Up until now, I'd always assumed that any old remains recovered were given a proper burial, or cremated. It never, ever occurred to me that they'd simply replace them where they were for others to find!