Police appear on BBC Crimewatch to renew appeal over human remains found in River Stour in Sudbury in August 2020

Police have appeared on BBC Crimewatch in a renewed appeal over the discovery of human remains in a town river nearly five years ago.

Officers were called on August 27, 2020 to the River Stour, near Meadow Gate and Croft Bridge in Sudbury, where human remains were found inside two black bin bags.

Detective superintendent Mike Brown, who appeared on the BBC show on Monday, said in one of the bags detectives found what was believed to be the arms of a man.

A police cordon was in place for a number of days in the town after the discovery and specialist dive teams were called to search the river.

Another black bin bag was found which contained a small part of the jaw with two teeth.

Detectives are looking into whether the murder took place in Sudbury or elsewhere.

Det Supt Brown said: “This is so unusual for Sudbury. We are on the borders with Essex, but there are a number of other opportunities and the remoteness of this site would lead itself to anyone with any knowledge or just looking for that opportunity to drop something without being seen.

"It’s really important that we identify our victim. This is somebody's family member, somebody's father, son, uncle, and there will be people out there who will be missing them.

"Until we know who this individual is, we really can't bring justice for them or their family."

Expert forensic tests identified the remains belonged to a white adult male of north European descent, approximately 5ft 6in to 5ft 9in, of medium build, with blond hair when born (which may have darkened over time), and likely to have been of an athletic or muscular build.

He was likely to have been in his late 50s to early 60s at the time of death and detectives believe the man was murdered with his remains stored elsewhere before being dumped in the river.

The victim had 27 lacerations to his skull, believed to have been caused by a bladed weapon, but it is not thought to be the cause of his death.

It is believed the man died between 2008 and 2012, but the bags had been in the river for about seven to 10 days before they were found.

Det Supt Brown said: "The feet were pushed up towards the shins and the arms were bent in.

"It is difficult to say if this is linked to organised crime, but what we do know from the state in which the remains were found with the skull appearing to have a number of injuries, that this was a serious level of violence used against the individual when they were killed.

“That could attribute to organised criminality.”

Officers are still appealing for anyone with any information in relation to the case to contact them.

Anyone that could assist the inquiry is asked to contact the Major Investigation Team, either via the Major Incident Public Reporting Portal or by calling the incident room on 01473 613513

Alternatively, contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.