Watch: Real crime TV documentary exposes the unsolved discover of a skull in a skip
It has been close to 18 years since the horrific discovery of a skull – dry, clean and encased in a plastic bag – in a skip in Birmingham.
And still the strange case remains a mystery. Still we do not know the dead person’s identity.
Now Shots! TV has produced a 12 minute mini-documentary about the chilling find with crime writer Mike Lockley, former West Midlands head of CID John Plimmer and producer Richard Gullick. You can watch the programme here: The Skull on Oxford Road.
Mike said: “The skull belonged to a teenage girl. That is all that can be said with certainty.
“Police remain unsure how long ago the girl died or even how she died. The bone showed no sign of trauma wounds from an attack.
“An artist’s impression following an expert’s study of the remains show an individual with prominent front teeth. In life, she would’ve been termed goofy.”
The skull was found on Oxford Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham, on May 25, 2006, by a householder clearing his garden. The grim find made national headlines.
Just two months after the discovery, police gave details of the puzzle they were attempting to solve.
DNA profiling revealed the skull did not belong to anyone on the missing person’s files. Police believed death occurred years before the 2006 alarm. Carbon dating at Oxford University made the picture no clearer.
Over the years, theories flew thick and fast. Could the skull have been found by someone in his or her own home and dumped in panic, officers pondered?
Criminologist Robert Giles believed it could belong to Birmingham student nurse Maria Aldridge, aged 17, who went missing in 1968. DNA, however, did not match.
There were also unfounded links to Nicola Payne, the Coventry teenager whose disappearance in 1991 sparked a huge search.
Shortly after the skull was found, Det Chief Insp Sally Holmes said: “When people go onto the Missing Persons database a DNA sample is submitted.
“The full DNA profile from the skull does not match up to anything on that database.”
She added: “There is no evidence this is a murder enquiry. The skull has been thoroughly examined and there is nothing to suggest any trauma.”
Caroline Dundee, a specialist in forensic anthropology at the University of Dundee, was called upon to create an image, which resulted in the picture handed to the press.
Det Chief Insp Holmes added: “The university said whoever the skull belonged to would have been alive in the 1950s, which obviously makes it more imperative that someone comes forward and assists in the investigation.
“It is not impossible that someone who was alive in the 1950s may remember them.”
The appeal fell on deaf ears.
Following his latest inquiry about the chilling find, West Midlands Police told Mike: “We have carried out a thorough investigation, but the skull has never been identified and it has not been linked to any ongoing investigations.
“We believe it may have been imported and part of a collection long before there were restrictions on the trade of skeletons.”
To watch the mini documentary about this unsolved Birmingham crime please visit: Shots! TV - The Skull on Oxford Road
