An area in Ufford has been cordoned off today following the discovery of a human bone in a woodland area by officers investigating the disappearance of Luke Durbin.
Detective Superintendent John Brocklebank, who is leading the inquiry to discover what happened to the 19-year-old after he went missing in May 2006, stressed at this stage all options remain open as to who the bone belongs to.
He said there could be a number of reasons for the human remains being at the site.
Although the small piece of bone was discovered on Friday, February 21, detectives said tests are still to take place to identify whether it belongs to a male or female, and how old it is.
Specialist officers carried out searches in the wooded area between the B1438 and The Avenue/Parklands 12 days ago, as part of Suffolk Police’s inquiry into the disappearance of 19-year-old Luke, from Hollesley, near Woodbridge.
Detective Superintendent John Brocklebank, who is leading the investigation into the teenager’s disappearance in May 2006, said: “Officers have been searching the woodland area in Ufford as part of our continued enquiries into Luke’s disappearance.
“We knew Luke frequented this area prior to him going missing and as well as other lines of enquiry, we have also recently searched the woodland area.
“At this very early stage we cannot make any assumptions about the discovery of the small piece of bone, however we have had it confirmed that it is human.
“We now need to establish the identity of the bone which will be carried out by Forensic Anthropologists. This process may take weeks. We also need to carry out a more detailed search of the area, which again may take a number of weeks.
“We have advised Luke’s family of the discovery, but we are keen to stress that we cannot and will not speculate that this is Luke. We need to pass the work to specialists in this field to establish the identity of the bone.”
Initial tests on the bone suggest that it is a small piece of human bone.
Further detailed tests need to be carried out to establish how old the bone is, if it is from a male or female, age of the individual and potentially the identification of who it is from.
Coupled with these tests the area in Ufford will be cordoned off whilst specialist trained officers carry out further detailed searches of the area.
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