It's
nearly Halloween and time for a SPOOKY
cache!!
Is
anyone else planning on setting a mysterious Halloween themed cache
this year?
The story below is completely true...
Taken from the Lancashire Evening Post, Monday Octobe 15, 1979 -
a legendary tale because of the trouble identifying the corpse.
Detectives today stepped up a murder hunt after the butchered body
of a man was found dumped in a flooded Lancashire quarry.
Police forces throughout the country were checking missing person
files to try and identify the man - thought to be the victim of a
bizarre gangland-style execution.
The naked, mutulated corpse of a stocky man thought to be under 30
was found by amateur scuba-divers at Marsden's Quarry, off
Halfpenny Lane, Eccleston, near Chorley. The frogmen say both hands
had been chopped off the body and there was a large gaping wound in
the stomach
The long haired victim of the grisly gangland-type killing had
been weighed down by bricks. Police refused to disclose the nature
of their initial investigations but were holding a Press conference
this morning. The gruesome discovery was made in a 60ft deep
pool.
The body, found by accident when sub-aqua enthusiasts Jeff
Ashcroft, 22, a mechanic, and his pal Ian Reading, 34, were diving
at the scene yesterday. Hours after the discovery, Jeff said "We
had been diving about 60ft and were working our way round the side
of the quarry to see if we could find anything interesting. When we
first saw it we thought it was a tailor's dummy"
The couple prodded the corpse before realising what it was. Ian, a
lorry driver, added "It was only when we got close to it that our
stomachs turned over and we found we had a body on our hands". The
divers - both from Ashton-in-Makerfield near Wigan and members of
the Newton-Le-Willows Scuba club - both believe the body had not
been in the water for long.
Lancashire CID chief Det Chief Supt Wilf Brookes and Assistant
Chief Constable Keith Brown were immediately called to the scene.
Chorley Chief Supt Ian Hunter and Supt Phil Cafferty of the No. 2
District Task Force based in Penwortham were also at the murder
spot, 50 yards down Halfpenny Lane. The man in charge of the hunt
is Det Supt Ray Rimmer, second in command of the Lancashire
CID.
Local anglers continued to fish at the quarry unaware of the drama
unfolding 60 feet below. The water has been used in the past for
the illegal dumping of cars, and both divers say they saw cars deep
below the surface. A dumped mini estate was found near the body.
But police are understood to have ruled out any link between that
car and the body.
Police frogmen later made a detailed search of the scene to try
and find the man's severed hands and the murder weapon - but have
been unsuccessful so far. A dental specialist has also been called
in in a bid to help identify the victim. And Home Office
pathologist Dr Geoffrey Garrett was carrying out a
post-mortem.
Lancashire police have no record of any local missing person who
would fit the bill of the victim. The body has now been removed
from the quarry and is in Preston Royal Infirmary
mortuary.