Mystery as mummified remains of victim known as ‘Croft Man’ found in multiple bin bags in river after ‘violent assault’

A MAN discovered mummified in multiple bin bags in a river was the victim of a “violent assault”, a coroner ruled today. Two mummified legs and feet and two mummified arms without hands were found by a dog walker in the River Stour in Suffolk on August 27, 2020. The ‘Croft Man’ was discovered in the River Stour in Suffolk Credit: East Anglia News Service His remains had been weighted down with bricks and rocks Credit: East Anglia News Service Police divers later discovered skull fragments, facial bones and two loose teeth in a thin blue plastic bag 150 metres further along the river. The mystery victim later became known as the “Croft Man” due to where his severed remains were found but his true identity remains unknown. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Suffolk’s senior coroner Nigel Parsley today recorded he died as the result of a “violent assault”. He said checks had been run against national and international databases for missing people and for criminal activity but there had been no matches. The coroner also told the court radiocarbon dating indicated he was born before the early 1950s and died in about 2008 to 2012 – so was likely aged in his late 60s to 70s. Mr Parsley said the removal of the man’s hands and the injuries to 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”. “We must remember that the Croft Man was somebody’s son,” the coroner continued. Most read in The Sun “He lived for 60 to 70 years. He may well have had family, he almost certainly had friends. “It’s a tragedy we cannot identify him as there must be some loved ones somewhere wondering where their loved one is.” Police divers discovered further mummified remains Credit: East Anglia News Service The man’s identity remains a mystery Credit: East Anglia News Service Dogwalker Julie Dunn-Beechin said she was on a stretch of the River Stour by water meadows when she saw two black bin bags in the water. She said her attention was drawn to them when her dogs started sniffing in the area and it “didn’t seem right to me”. Park ranger Samuel Morgan, who was called to the water, said: “[Julie] 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.” He told the court the bags had rocks and bricks in and “what looked like a Toilet Duck soap that had partly dissolved”. Samuel said he saw “through a small hole in the bag what I thought looked like mummified skin and bone” and what appeared to be the ball joint of an arm so he called police. Superintendent Mike Brown, of Suffolk Police, told the inquest it was estimated the bags were deposited between August 13 and August 19. A fingertip search of the riverbed was carried out and a dive team found further human remains in a thin blue bag on August 29. He told the inquest there were bags within bags, filled with shingle, rocks, bricks and soap and air freshener products. Supt Brown confirmed DNA testing indicated the person was a white northern European male, likely to have been born with blonde or light hair which may have darkened naturally, and blue or green eyes. “The most likely and preferred hypothesis is that there’s a criminal element,” he said, adding that the injuries inflicted on the skull supported this. Supt Brown also revealed the manner of dismemberment of the body could suggest someone with “skill in butchery”. “Our victim has likely met a violent and unnatural death,” he said. He continued: “Because of the length of storage the individual could have been found in a state by somebody who doesn’t want to come to the attention of police and has tried to dispose of them by throwing them away.” A pathologist was unable to give a cause of death but found there had been “multiple blows to the head”. Dr Ginni Fitzpatrick-Swallow also said the man could have been bludgeoned with a heavy weapon, like a meat cleaver, axe or machete. She added: “To completely destroy a skull like that seems from a dismemberment point of view unnecessary.”