Overview
- Two black bin bags containing mummified limbs were found in the River Stour at Sudbury on 27 August 2020 after a dog walker reported them and a park ranger retrieved the sacks.
- At an inquest held on 21 July 2026 Suffolk’s senior coroner recorded that the Croft Man died from a violent, unlawful act.
- Home Office pathologists and a forensic anthropologist described removed hands, mummified arms and legs, and skull fragments with multiple linear cuts consistent with repeated heavy-bladed strikes.
- Radiocarbon dating indicates the man was likely born in or before the early 1950s and probably died around 2008–2012, while items in the bags point to storage before the August 2020 river deposition.
- Suffolk Police say they have interviewed thousands of people and searched DNA databases without identifying him, and they continue an open criminal inquiry while appealing for anyone with information to come forward.