Mystery of skeleton discovered by worker cleaning old Wednesbury school building

The discovery was made by Peter Goldby, site manager at Phoenix Collegiate Academy, while working at an old school building in Wednesbury.

An inquest held at Smethwick Coroners Court on Thursday heard the skeleton was the property of the school and would once have been used for anatomical studies.

Senior coroner Mr Robin Balmain read out a statement from Mr Goldby who said he was responsible for cleaning the old school building and had found the skeleton.

He said information on where it had come from was scarce and the remains could date as far back as the 1960s.

The school was previously the Manor High School. Mr Goldby said he had been told the skeleton may have come from India but there was no proof of that and no way of getting any further information.

A post-mortem carried out on the remains found the bones of the skeleton, an adult female, had been strung together.

They were also smooth and polished indicating their use as an anatomical study aid. There were no signs of any fractures or serious injuries.

The post-mortem also gave no indications the skeleton has belonged to a person who had suffered a violent death.

Mr Balmain recorded an open conclusion at the end of the hearing. He said: "The whole purpose of an inquest is to identify who the person is and the circumstances of who they died. However, in this case it is simply not possible. The identity of these remains is unknown.

"There does not appear to be anything suspicious and evidence is obviously very limited.

"Mr Goldby tells me there are two school buildings, one of which used to be the old school. He was cleaning out the old premises when he discovered the skeleton."

Mr Balmain issued a cremation certificate so the remains could be dealt with respectfully.

A spokesman for Phoenix Collegiate Academy said: "The skeleton was donated to Cronehills Junior and Infants Schools before 1975 and before the school was relocated to Manor High School."