Body recovered from Grays deneholes confirmed to be a man
An investigation's underway to work out how the man died.
Essex police have confirmed the body recovered from the deneholes at Hangman’s Woods earlier this week is that of a man.
Officers and partner agencies worked together using specialist equipment and skills to recover the body from the site off Stanford Road near Grays on Thursday (31st July).
Detective Inspector Lydia George said: “A forensic post-mortem examination took place yesterday where it was confirmed the remains are those of an adult man.
“However, we have not been able to confirm how the man died and further tests will be carried out to see if we can establish that.
“Work to formally identify this man is ongoing and specialist officers are ready to support his family when we have been able to do that.
“And we continue to carry out enquiries to try determine how he came to be in the deneholes.
“I want to thank the officers, and partners, who have worked diligently, professionally, and compassionately to ensure the man’s dignity.”
Emergency services received reports shortly after 2.05pm on Tuesday (29th July) that a body had been found in deneholes just off Stanford Road.
Detective Inspector Lydia George said: “Utilising specialist equipment and skills and working with our partners, we recovered a body yesterday.
“Work is underway to establish who they are and the circumstances around how they came to be in the deneholes and how they died.
“I want to thank the community around this area for their support, particularly local businesses who kindly provided refreshments.
“We will provide further information as and when we are able to.”