New video: Third murder hunt as another body found on Bradford’s killing fields

Police were called to the Holme Wood Estate in south Bradford, where firefighters found a body on a bonfire on open ground at about 6.15am today.

The scene is a five-minute drive from New Lane where two men were found dead by the side of a country lane on Tuesday evening.

But West Yorkshire Police said there was nothing at this stage to link the two incidents.

Detective Superintendent Paul Taylor, who is leading the inquiry into today’s grim discovery, said: “I am liaising closely with Detective Superintendent Dick Nuttall, who is investigating the recent incident on New Lane.

“Although the incidents are geographically close, there is nothing to suggest at this stage that they are linked. Our investigations are ongoing and work will now begin around identification.

“Our local neighbourhood policing team officers will also continue to provide a strong presence in the area through reassurance patrols.”

Large parts of the estate were cordoned off today, with forensic officers seen working in Pit Hill Park - the large grassed area at the centre of the houses.

All entrances to the park were closed off and guarded and many of the streets around it were also sealed off.

This afternoon a number of police raided a house in Eddleston Drive, on one side of Pit Hill Park.

It is understood at least one other home in the area was also being searched.

People living on the estate said they were shocked when they heard about the body being found in the park. Some said the area had suffered from problems including issues with drug dealing.

West Yorkshire Fire Service said it could only confirm that firefighters found a body on a bonfire and called the police.

It is understood the body was badly burned.

Meanwhile, detectives were today identifying yesterday’s victims, whose mutilated bodies were found by a passing motorist in New Lane, a mile or two from the suburbs of Bradford.

It is believed the victims were left at the spot after being attacked at another location, although it was unclear last night how long the men had been dead before they were discovered. This morning, a post-mortem examination carried out on one of the men revealed he died from head injuries.

Extra police patrols were planned today to reassure residents living near the scene, which is close to the picturesque village of Tong.

The bodies were found shortly before 10.30pm on Tuesday by a driver who called the emergency services immediately.

After police arrived, the bodies were left at the site for more than 12 hours while forensic scientists inspected them and searched the scene for clues.

It is believed that both men were covered in blood. One of them was found face-down.

The condition of the bodies was so bad that detectives were unable to give accurate ages for them, nor establish their ethnicity.

Det Supt Dick Nuttall, of West Yorkshire Police’s elite Homicide and Major Inquiry Team, said the victims were aged in their mid-20s to 30s.

“I am particularly interested in hearing from anyone who was in the area of New Lane or Raikes Lane at the time or saw anything suspicious,” he added.

“This is a rural and quiet area of Bradford and people may have noticed any unusual activity, especially at this time of night.”

Det Supt Nuttall added that no weapons had been found at the scene.

He said neighbourhood police officers would patrol the area to offer reassurance and to speak to residents about any concerns.

The bodies were taken to a mortuary yesterday afternoon and post mortem examinations were due to take place last night.

The Yorkshire Post understands that officers were planning to take fingerprints of the victims, to be checked against a police database of known criminals, in the hope of identifying them.

Once the men have been identified, police will attempt to locate their families and investigate whether they can be linked to any criminal activity.

Detectives have refused to rule out the possibility that the killings were gang-related, although it is understood there was little intelligence yesterday to link the victims to organised crime.

Det Supt Nuttall said: “Inquiries at the moment are focused on identifying the two men and establishing the circumstances in which they came to be found in New Lane.”

Footage from closed circuit TV cameras near the scene is being examined.

Officers were last night trying to trace motorists who drove along the road in the hours before the bodies were found.

Simon Fiddler, 47, from Alwoodley, Leeds, who was passing the scene yesterday, said: “As we were coming up we heard about two bodies being found but did not realise it was so close.

“We thought there was an event going on or something when we saw all the cars. Then we saw the police.”

Police visited the Greyhound pub in Tong yesterday to ask customers and staff whether they had seen anything suspicious.

Landlord Paul Stafford said he first heard about the incident at 11pm on Tuesday, when a customer came in and said he had seen up to 20 police officers at the scene.

Describing the remote location, he said: “New Lane is a single track road down into Holme Wood. There are farms either side.

“All you have down there on either side are fields and farmland until you get down the bottom to Holme Wood.

“The police have been here to look at closed circuit TV. The cameras pick up traffic that goes past on the road outside.”

The scene remained sealed off last night.

A police scientific support van, mounted officers and a coroner’s van were allowed through the cordon during the day.

The bodies were found only a few hundred yards from a layby in Tong where a drug dealer was gunned down in a gangland killing in 2002.

Bodybuilder Philip Smith, 29, was shot with a double-barrelled shotgun by one of his pushers, Nicholas Hickson, who was jailed for life in March 2003.