CASE SUMMARY

On Tuesday the 26th September 1989 police were called to Baitings Dam in West Yorkshire after a member of the public spotted a body floating in the water.

The victim had been subjected to a brutal attack before being shot in the head, mutilated and partially burned.

The remains were wrapped in a fabric sheet and weighed down by the head of a pickaxe. They would likely have remained hidden had it not been for an extended period of dry weather causing water levels to drop by around 12 metres.

The gruesome discovery ended the year long search a for popular 23 year old mechanic from Shaw in Oldham, located a little over 10 miles South West of the Dam. He was reported missing having not been seen by his friends or family for a number of days in October 1988.

What would come to be known as ‘the body in the dam’ murder sparked a widespread police investigation, with a number of notable leads reported over the years. Despite this, authorities are still searching for answers over three decades later.