Three human feet found in Bath 'were probably medical exhibits
Friday 11 November 2016 at 5:48pm
Three human feet discovered within a few hundred yards of each other were most likely from a medical exhibit or private collection, police have revealed.
Officers today said they have closed their investigation into the body parts dug up over the last nine months in Bath, Somerset.
A spokesman this evening told ITV News that the feet had been too tampered with to establish DNA.
"We have carried out an extensive investigation into all three feet and have exhausted all active lines of enquiry," said acting Detective Inspector Paul Catton.
"We are satisfied that no crime has been committed and that the feet are more than likely an exhibit from a medical or educational establishment or from a private collection which has been disturbed by animals.
Crime investigators descended on the southern corner of Weston Park East when a
dog-walker unearthed the single left foot in February.
The second grisly discovery, of
another left foot, was made in a Cranwells Park garden in July, and a
right foot in an adjacent garden in August.
Forensic tests were carried out and they were examined by a Home Office pathologist and a forensics anthropologist.
An Avon and Somerset Constabulary spokesman said preservatives coated on the feet meant there was no telling how long they were in the ground for.
"Whatever was used to preserve the feet made it impossible to identify DNA," he said.
In August, DI Catton said he "strongly" believed the feet were from an old private collection and that someone once used them as a "teaching aid".
www.itv.com/news/2016-11-11/three-severed-human-feet-medical-experiment-private-collection-bath-somerset
