By Ralph Barnett

A MAJOR police inquiry was launched in Arbroath yesterday morning after two young local girls playing on the foreshore discovered a woman’s severed head in a plastic bag.

The grim find was made shortly after 10.30am and, after the horrified sisters alerted their mother, a large team of uniformed and plain-clothed police officers assembled in the South Street/Seagate area.

Officers at the scene were initially reluctant to confirm the nature of the girls’ discovery—the fact that yesterday was April 1 led to some initial speculation in the town that someone had perpetrated an elaborate and tasteless April Fool’s Day hoax.

However, as the morning wore on and the police activity intensified, including the arrival of a mobile incident room, it became clear the matter was being taken extremely seriously.

Marked and unmarked police vehicles lined the normally quiet residential street as scenes of crime officers, dressed in their distinctive white coveralls, masks and blue protective gloves, examined and recorded the black bin bag and its contents.

A search of the beach as the tide receded allowed officers to identify other items of interest, several of which were marked with numbered pegs, and it was later confirmed that a woman’s hand had also been found nearby.

The stretch of foreshore between the traditional fishers’ drying greens on South Street and the mouth of the Brothock Burn at Danger Point was cordoned off to allow scenes of crime specialists to carry out a full examination of the objects found.

This was later extended to control vehicular access along the entire length of South Street as more than 40 police officers —from all over eastern division and from central division in Dundee—became involved in the investigation.

Angus procurator fiscal Lis Miller attended at the scene to be updated on the situation and it is understood the remains, and any associated items, will be subject to detailed analysis by Dr David Sadler, senior lecturer in forensic medicine at Dundee University, and his colleagues.

The officer leading the inquiry, newly appointed Detective Chief Inspector Graham MacMillan, said, “The two young children, who were playing on the beach, discovered what they suspected was a human head in a plastic bag and reported it to their mother who, in turn, contacted the police.

“Uniformed and CID officers attended and examined the bag and its contents and confirmed it was a human head.

“From there a full forensic examination was carried out and a search of the foreshore as the tide went out.

“Once the body parts and other items arrive in Dundee they will be subject to a more exhaustive examination, including the acquisition of DNA and fingerprints.”

DCI MacMillan said it was too early to say how old the woman was, what the likely cause of death was or how long the remains had been on the beach or in the water.

He said, “Only a very tentative examination could be carried out at the scene but once the remains are in the controlled environment of the laboratory a more detailed examination can be undertaken.

“The two little girls who were first to discover the remains are, understandably, quite upset and are being cared for by their mother.

“Our inquiries will continue with checks being made against reports of missing women both in the Tayside Police area and further afield.

“Officers will also be carrying out house-to-house inquiries in the local area and I would urge anyone who lives, works, socialises or walks their dog in this area to contact us with any information they may have which could assist this inquiry.”

Anyone with any information should call Tayside Police on Forfar (01307) 223200 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or speak to any police officer.

Local man John Carswell was working on one of the new houses at Seagate Point in South Street when he actually saw the two girls make their grim discovery.

He said, “The two wee girls, maybe four and six years old, were playing as kids do—throwing stones and picking up sticks and shells—when I saw them at the black bag.”

Mr Carswell added, “By the way they ran back to the mum I thought they’d maybe found some drowned kittens or something—they seemed really upset —but when I saw their mum on her mobile and then the police arriving I realised it had to be something worse.”

Edinburgh couple Bryden Duff and Judy Eggington saw the incident unfold from a nearby holiday apartment.

Mr Duff said, “We noticed all the police activity and noticed them looking into a bag.

“It looked like a woman’s head, but I couldn’t say what age she was, and she seemed to have mainly brunette hair which was longish, and I could see the chin but not her face.

“The police and forensic people were trying to keep it concealed and it was quite awful and very shocking.”

Ms Eggington added, “When we noticed the police on the beach I got the binoculars which were sitting on the windowsill for bird-watching and saw they were standing over something that looked like a black rubbish bag.

“A couple more police officers arrived and they were on their hunkers looking into the bag with the forensic people.

“I had thought it was some sort of April Fool joke but I realised it was serious when they started inspecting the contents of the bag more closely and taking photographs of what was clearly the top of a head with long hair.”

Local councillor Jim Millar said, “This is the sort of scenario you might expect to read about in the pages of an Inspector Rebus novel and you just don’t expect to see scenes like this in your own home town.

“This is a shocking and grim discovery and it must have been a very traumatic experience for the two girls who stumbled upon it and for their mother.”

Fellow councillor David Fairweather said, “Whoever she was, my heart goes out to the family of this poor woman and also the two girls who stumbled on the remains as it must have been a shocking experience for them.”