Mystery murder victim whose bones were found in 2002 is finally named

A murder victim has been identified by police – more than 15 years after his skeleton was discovered.

The bones were found on farmland in Charnock Richard, near Chorley in Lancashire, on July 26 in 2002.

Police launched a major murder investigation after the find but the identity of the victim was remained a mystery, until now.

Lancashire Police said advances in DNA technology meant they had been able to identify the body as Darren Carley, who went missing from his home in Swindon, nearly 200 miles from where his remains were found, in January 2002, aged 24.

A post-mortem revealed his cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head.

A fresh murder investigation has now been launched by police.

Detective Chief Inspector Geoff Hurst, from Lancashire Constabulary’s major investigation team, said: “While this investigation has never been closed, we now have a renewed focus on finding who killed Darren and piecing together exactly what happened to him after he went missing and how his body came to be in Lancashire.

Hopefully we will be able to provide some further answers and some justice for his family.

“We will not let the passage of time be a barrier to our investigation and we have a dedicated team of detectives working on this, pursuing a number of lines of enquiry.

“While I appreciate Darren went missing some time ago I would ask the public to cast their minds back to 2002 – the year when Manchester hosted the Commonwealth Games.

“Did you see or meet Darren at this time? Do you have any information which could help with our investigation or piecing together his final movements?

“We have a six-month gap between him being reported missing and his body being found and we’re appealing for anyone who had contact with him between January and July 2002 to come forward. Any information, no matter how small, could prove to be significant.”

Mr Carley’s body had been buried at Chorley Cemetery but since the identification it has been exhumed and returned to his family in Wiltshire.

The original investigation saw forensic archaeologists and odontologists consulted, along with other scientific experts who led detectives to believe the victim may have lived a large part of his life in the West Midlands.

Police travelled to India after some experts suggested the victim could have been from there and a computer-generated image and clay head model of the man’s face were created.

Anyone with information should contact police on 101, ask for Lancashire Police and quote log number 456 of October 4 or independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.