Published by Robert L Senior Reporter on Friday, 12th July 2024, at 11:20hrs
Detectives investigating the discovery of human remains left inn suitcases on a bridge in Bristol have released images of a man they would like to speak to in connection with their investigation.
In a social media post on Thursday, Avon and Somerset Police said,
“At 11.57pm yesterday (Wed 10 July) we received a report of a man with a suitcase acting suspiciously on Clifton Suspension Bridge.
Officers arrived at the bridge within 10 minutes, but the man had already left the area, leaving the suitcase behind. A second suitcase was located nearby a short time later.
Sadly, it’s believed the suitcases contain human remains.
Our Major Crime Investigation Team has launched an investigation. Locating the man who left the suitcases and identifying the deceased are our priorities.
Acting Bristol Commander Vicks Hayward-Melen said: “This is a very disturbing incident and I fully recognise the concern it will be causing our communities.
”The investigation is being led by our Major Crime Investigation Team and involves specialist officers from across our organisation.
“Our immediate priority is to locate the man who took the suitcases to the bridge, identify the deceased, and inform their next of kin.”
She added: “A search of the area was carried out on the ground with the support of the National Police Air Service and HM Coastguard after the discovery. These searches remain ongoing.
”Initial enquiries have established the man was taken to the bridge in a taxi. This vehicle has been seized and the driver is helping us with our enquiries.
”Specialist crime scene investigators are currently examining the bridge and surrounding area and the bridge will remain closed while these enquiries are conducted.
”A forensic postmortem examination will take place later today.
”There is currently an increased police presence in the area and anyone who has concerns is encouraged to speak to an officer.”
In a further statement released, Avon and Somerset Police said,
“Detectives investigating the discovery of human remains on Clifton Suspension Bridge yesterday (Wed 10 July) are releasing an image of a man they want to speak to.
He is described as Black with a beard. He was wearing a black Adidas baseball cap, black jeans, a black jacket, black trainers with thick white soles and had a black backpack.
We believe he then left the bridge in the direction of Leigh Woods.
If anyone sees this man, we’d ask them not to approach him and instead call 999, quoting reference 5224180010 to the call handler.
A large-scale search was carried out over several hours last night involving involved the police helicopter and HM Coastguard, but the man was not located.
We’re now reviewing CCTV and working on tracking the man’s movements after he left the bridge, with these enquiries directing officers on the ground.
At this time, we’re not aware of any current risk to the wider public.
Additional high-visibility patrols are being carried out in the area and if anyone has any concerns they’d be encouraged to speak to an officer.
Anyone with information about the man’s whereabouts is asked to call us on 999 as this will enable the information to be passed quickly to officers searching for him.
For any information, excluding sightings, details can be submitted on our Major Incident Public Portal or by calling the Major Incident Room Number on 0800 056 0944, if calling from the UK, or 0207 158 0010 from abroad.
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