Girls find head, hand on beach

2008-04-02 14:41

London - Police investigating the gruesome discovery of a severed head and hand on a British beach have found another hand, they said on Wednesday.

Two young sisters found the woman's head on Tuesday inside a plastic bag while playing on the beach at Arbroath on the Scottish east coast. The first hand was discovered soon afterwards.

Forensic tests on the head are ongoing and Tayside Police were set to extend their search along the shoreline.

"The body parts have been removed from the beach and a post-mortem will be undertaken today, along with further forensic and pathological investigation," said Detective Chief Inspector Graham McMillan.

"It will take several days before we have forensic test results that could shed further light on the inquiry."

He said recent heavy rains in the area made it difficult to tell how long - if at all - the head had been in the sea.

The mother of the two girls who found the head said her daughters, aged eight and 11, were terrified.

"I can't say at the moment if they are going to be all right or not," said the woman, who did not want to be identified.

"They are very shaken up. They are worried that the person who did this to the woman could do it to them."

- AFP