Two held for severed head

2008-04-04 18:02

London - Two Lithuanian men were arrested on Friday by British police investigating the murder of a woman whose severed head was found by children in a plastic bag on a Scottish beach.

Police said the men, whom they have not named, were being questioned over the death of fellow Lithuanian Jolanta Bledaite.

The men, aged 19 and 40, have not been charged.

Bledaite, 35, from the town of Alytus, 150km west of the capital Vilnius, was identified after hundreds of calls were made to police following the discovery on Tuesday of her severed head by two sisters aged 8 and 11.

Two hands were also found on the foreshore at Arbroath, in eastern Scotland.

On Thursday, searchers found more "human material" on the shoreline at Carnoustie, the location of last year's British Open Golf championship.

A tragic incident

Police believe the migrant worker, who had been living in the nearby town of Brechin, was killed shortly before her body was dumped. She had been reported missing by her employer.

Her father was told of the news on Friday, police said.

"This is a tragic incident involving a 35-year-old woman, a woman who came to Scotland seeking a better life," Detective Chief Inspector Graham McMillan said in a statement.

"Whilst we have two men in custody, we will be working diligently to establish the full circumstances surrounding Jolanta's death."

Several interpreters have been drafted in to help interview the large number of Eastern European migrant workers in the area.

- Reuters