Police investigating missing mother's murder case 'keeping an open mind' after discovery of severed head in Cambridgeshire quarry

Police dealing with the disappearance of a mum-of-three are investigating the discovery of a severed human head at a Cambridgeshire quarry.
Police in Sharnbrook yesterdayPolice in Sharnbrook yesterday
Police in Sharnbrook yesterday

The body part was found on Monday afternoon at a quarry in Block Fen Drove, Mepal, Cambridgeshire, owned by Mick George

But it is believed it may have been transported in landfill from Sharnbrook in Bedfordshire, where a Network Rail building project is taking place.

A post mortem will take place this morning on the head.

The quarry in Mepal where the human head was found - Image ©Licensed to i-Images Picture Agency. Picture by Terry Harris / i-ImagesThe quarry in Mepal where the human head was found - Image ©Licensed to i-Images Picture Agency. Picture by Terry Harris / i-Images
The quarry in Mepal where the human head was found - Image ©Licensed to i-Images Picture Agency. Picture by Terry Harris / i-Images
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Police investigating the disappearance of missing mum Natalie Hemming, 31, from Milton Keynes, who lived next to the large Bletchley landfill site, said they are keeping an open mind about the discovery in Mepal.

Mrs Hemming has not been seen since May 1 and her partner Paul Hemming has been charged with murder.

Police dealing with her case are now speaking to Cambridgeshire officers about the discovery of the head, which has not yet been officially identified as male or female.

A quarry worker, who asked not to be named, claimed his colleague spotted the head lying on top of a skip and believed it to belong to a woman in her 30s or 40s.

The quarry in Mepal where the human head was found - Image ©Licensed to i-Images Picture Agency. Picture by Terry Harris / i-ImagesThe quarry in Mepal where the human head was found - Image ©Licensed to i-Images Picture Agency. Picture by Terry Harris / i-Images
The quarry in Mepal where the human head was found - Image ©Licensed to i-Images Picture Agency. Picture by Terry Harris / i-Images
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He said: “My colleague collected the skip where he saw nothing out of the ordinary, and put a cover over the top to stop anything falling out during transit.”

“When he got back to our site, he took the cover off and spotted something straight away.

“He said: ‘What on earth is that’, and his first thought was that it was a manikin’s head.

“But then he realised it had eyebrows and hair, and suddenly clicked that it was actually a woman’s head.

The quarry in Mepal where the human head was found - Image ©Licensed to i-Images Picture Agency. Picture by Terry Harris / i-ImagesThe quarry in Mepal where the human head was found - Image ©Licensed to i-Images Picture Agency. Picture by Terry Harris / i-Images
The quarry in Mepal where the human head was found - Image ©Licensed to i-Images Picture Agency. Picture by Terry Harris / i-Images
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“He described the features of the head looking female and said she looked in her 30s or 40s, but he couldn’t be 100 per cent.

“He thought she had dark hair but it could have been dirty blond and just covered in so much muck.

“He called the managers and it was all passed over to the powers that be.”

The man described how the quarry is used for waste disposal and said earthy materials are transported in and out of the site to and from locations right around the UK.

The quarry in Mepal where the human head was found - Image ©Licensed to i-Images Picture Agency. Picture by Terry Harris / i-ImagesThe quarry in Mepal where the human head was found - Image ©Licensed to i-Images Picture Agency. Picture by Terry Harris / i-Images
The quarry in Mepal where the human head was found - Image ©Licensed to i-Images Picture Agency. Picture by Terry Harris / i-Images
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Specialist forensic teams are today continuing to scour Network Rail land at Sharnbrook for other body parts. A JCB digger can be seen searching a landfill site beneath the village’s historic viaduct.

Police have now launched a public appeal for any information to help solve the macabre mystery.

A spokesman for police leading the Natalie Hemming investigation said: “ We are speaking with Cambridgeshire Police. We are not currently linking the two investigations but are keeping an open mind.”