Police launch murder inquiry after bags of human bones found in Suffolk river

Police have confirmed a murder inquiry has been launched following the discovery of bags containing bones in a river in Sudbury.

Officers were called just after 4.35pm yesterday afternoon, Thursday 27 August, after bones were discovered inside two black bin bags, which were recovered from the River Stour near Meadow Gates and Croft Bridge.

A member of the public had spotted the bags in the river earlier in the afternoon and reported them to a ranger, who in turn called police following the discovery of the bones.

Police probe after bags containing suspected human bones found in river

A shopping trolley was found a little further along the river from where the bags were located. The bags were moved by the ranger before their contents had been established.

As a result of this, two police scenes are currently place – one around the area of the river where the bags were discovered and the other around the spot where the bags had been moved.

The bones have now been confirmed to be human remains and due to the suspicious circumstances in which they were found, detectives are treating this as a murder investigation.

A sensitive and methodical process will now take place over the coming days as the bones are examined and forensic tests are conducted. Various other investigative work and searches will also be carried-out, which will need to utilise a number of specialist resources.

This process will be time-consuming and so there are not likely to be any significant developments in the early stages.

A Home Office post-mortem examination is due to take place tomorrow, Saturday 29 August, which will hopefully assist in moving the inquiry forward, but again the results from this may not be immediately available. 

Police want anyone with information to contact the Major Investigation Team immediately. This includes anyone who believes they saw the bags in the river prior to yesterday afternoon, or saw the shopping trolley either in this location or elsewhere along the river.”

Anyone with information about this discovery is asked to contact the Major Investigation Team, either via our online portal here: https://mipp.police.uk/operation/363720N59-PO1 or by calling 101.

Detectives would also like to hear from anyone who may have driven their vehicle in the vicinity of the croft since Monday 24 August and has a dash cam fitted, to review the footage to see if they captured anything of significance.