Coroner hopes 3-D image may help solve 'skull in sea' riddle

A CORONER has appealed for help in establishing the identity of a man whose skull was found in the sea by a fishing crew nearly two years ago.

The grim discovery was made by the fishermen while they were working about 10 miles off the coast of Hartlepool. They handed the skull to police in Whitby on Valentine's Day 2008.

Forensic tests revealed it belonged to a man who died aged 20-50 and was of north-west European appearance, but North Yorkshire East Coroner Michael Oakley yesterday appealed for more information. With the help of a forensic anthropologist, a facial reconstruction has been produced and North Yorkshire Police officers hope someone may recognise the man from the digital images.

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Coroner's officer Annette Laycock, told a hearing in Scarborough yesterday the skull had been used to create a three-dimensional image of what the man would have looked like. But officers have still been unable to establish the man's identity.

Professor Andrew Chamberlain, an anthropologist at Sheffield University, said the skull could have been in the water for a minimum of two to three years, although it could have been submerged for a number of decades if it had been enclosed in a confined space.

Fisherman Richard Usher said the boat's nets had been about 110ft down in the sea for four hours and the skull had been hauled on board with the catches and into a hopper.

After opening an inquest yesterday, Mr Oakley said he was adjourning the hearing for six months in the hope that further information about the man's identity would be forthcoming.