POLICE AWAIT POST MORTEM ON BURNED BODY
CHRIS BISHOP
Norfolk Eastern Daily Press
June 19 2008
UK
Police were tonight hoping a post mortem examination would reveal
how a woman whose charred remains were found in a layby died.
A Home Office pathologist has spent today examining the corpse of
the woman, whose burning body was found at a truck stop beside the
A1301 at Hinxton, near Duxford, at 3.30am on Wednesday. Earlier today,
detectives said they had not yet established her identity.
Det Insp Dave Grierson said the body was so badly charred
it was difficult to even ascertain whether or not it had been
clothed. Witnesses who saw the body after it was found by a lorry
driver have been offered counselling.
Det Insp Grierson said: "Obviously this was a very traumatic experience
for them and they have been offered counselling as a result. Witnessing
such an incident would be traumatic for anyone."
Five lorry drivers who used the lay-by, in the early hours of
Wednesday, have been interviewed.
Police know an accelerant was used to set light to the body, while
examinations at the scene have revealed traces of a number of vehicles.
"We know several vehicles used the lay-by on the evening of Tuesday,
June 17," said Det Insp Grierson. "We would like to speak to any
drivers who used it and any other people who used that stretch of
road late Tuesday night or early Wednesday."
Police across East Anglia have been reviewing their missing persons
files for details of any women reported missing in their areas,
while forensic officers and sniffer dogs have continued to comb the
scene. Forty Cambridgeshire officers are working on the investigation.
In 2002 a badly-burned body was found in a field on the outskirts of
Peterborough, which police sparking a two-year forensic investigation
which took officers across Europe before they identified the victim
as 42-year-old Armenian Hovhahannes Amirian .
Three years later Nishan Bakunts, 28, from Yarmouth, was jailed for
16 years after being found guilty of his murder.
Police say anyone who used the lay-by or has information about missing
persons should call the Major Incident Team on 0845 456 4564.