UK - River Calder - 5 bodies in the past month - serial killer? March 2016

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CoverMeCagney

CoverMeCagney

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I'm not sure this is in the right place, but I'm posting it as yet another body has been found in (or next to) the river Calder and the adjacent Calder & Hebble Navigation (canal). This makes 5 bodies in 3 weeks.

Has the Manchester Pusher moved to Yorkshire? Or is it just that the recent floods in the area have made bodies surface? Whichever, the locals are freaked out and up in arms!

Dewsbury Reporter:
http://www.dewsburyreporter.co.uk/n...-pulled-from-river-is-fifth-tragedy-1-7824810

FB page (see comments):
https://www.facebook.com/Dewsbury-Reporter-65506729121/?fref=ts&ref=br_tf

West Yorkshire Police's FB page, the latest news is two posts down:
https://www.facebook.com/westyorkshirepolice/
 
The family of local missing man Daniel France have been informed about the latest body found.

http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/police-say-latest-body-found-11116034

So I think, in order of being found:

1. 14th March, male, dressed in shorts and t-shirt, been there a while, not yet ID'd
2. 17th March, man ID'd as 19 year old Hamza Amer
3. 23rd March, 77 year old man pulled from water, died in hospital
4. 25th March, man found, no ID as yet
5. 30th March, fifth body found, possibly Daniel France.
 
So now 3 of the 5 have been identified: George Bass, Hamza Amer and Daniel France.

The first one to be found is thought to have been there for a while. His body was found in bushes along the river bank (possibly left there after recent flooding). He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt which the police have issued photos of. I was thinking this might be Damion Vernon but he vanished in December so I'm sure he wouldn't be in shorts. Here are the pics of the clothing: http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west...elease-pictures-clothing-description-11049905

The DM has led with a crass headline (The Yorkshire Dipper) but lots of info:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-Fifth-body-month-pulled-waterway-county.html
 
CoverMeCagney said:
I'm not sure this is in the right place, but I'm posting it as yet another body has been found in (or next to) the river Calder and the adjacent Calder & Hebble Navigation (canal). This makes 5 bodies in 3 weeks.
Click to expand...

From one of the linked papers:

Emergency services were called to Slaithwaite Close in Thornhill Lees at 7.40am after a member of the public spotted the man near the Nelson Inn.
Click to expand...

It's a very small world. I lived about 100 yards away from the Nelson Inn for about 6 months in 1984.
 
It's certainly an interesting group of deaths. Had they occurred further up Calderdale, in the Todmorden or Hebden Bridge areas, I'd have said suicide was likely. That area does have a recognised high than average suicide rate. I suspect the death of the 77 year old was a simple accident: an old chap losing his way and then his footing on an unlit footpath.
 
MelmothTheLost said:
From one of the linked papers:



It's a very small world. I lived about 100 yards away from the Nelson Inn for about 6 months in 1984.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's not far at all! Can you remember if it would be really easy to slip in to the river/canal around there? It seems very strange to have 5 bodies recovered in the space of 3 miles and 3 weeks. I'm near Leeds so not too far from me (and making the local news) are you still in the area?
 
CoverMeCagney said:
Wow, that's not far at all! Can you remember if it would be really easy to slip in to the river/canal around there?
Click to expand...

Like all canals, this one has a towpath which is a public right of way. I'm not sure if there was access to it from The Nelson, which is on one corner of a bridge over the canal. I've had to refresh my memory using Google maps, and it seems there is a set of steps leading from the side of the pub downwards into a beer garden about half way between the pub and the canal, but whether you can get to the canal that way I don't know. There's also a footpath off at the opposite corner of the bridge which drops down to towpath level after about 100 yards.

I guess the reality is that these stretches of canal are pretty isolated even though there are houses nearby in some areas. They are isolated because the canal tends to sit at the bottom of a cutting, with fairly steep wooded slopes between it and nearby habitation. What with that and them being badly lit, it would be easy to fall in and not be heard shouting for help. This makes it very different from the Manchester canals where the many deaths seem to occur in much more urban surroundings where there are more likely to be passers by, either as rescuers or as witnesses.

Incidentally, one of the 2005 London bombers also lived in this area. I believe his parents had a fish and chip shop about 200 yards from where I lived, though as far as I know they didn't when I was there.

I left the area in 1984 and have lived in East Anglia and the Midlands since then, though I did return to West Yorkshire for a while a few years ago to work on an interim contract in Leeds. Before leaving, I made a nostalgic trip to Thornhill Lees to look at old haunts.
 
The water looks so lovely and yet..
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/bodies-fiv...r-fuels-yorkshire-serial-killer-fears-1552556

yorkshire-dipper-drowning-ravensthorpe-2016.jpg

Bodies of five men pulled from 10-mile stretch of river fuels Yorkshire serial killer fears
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In Manchester, 85 bodies – mostly men – have been pulled from canals over the last seven years. Most have been explained but over 20 have returned open verdicts.

However West Yorkshire Police say they have no evidence to suggest there is any connection between any of the five deaths in Yorkshire. Detective Inspector George Bardell said: "We are aware of speculation on social media following bodies being found in waterways in Kirklees over the last month. Inquiries have been made by the police into all of these deaths; however no links have been found and they appear to all be tragic isolated incidents.
Click to expand...
 
10 miles now! I've read 2, 3 and 5. Still, it's statistically odd. I think all these cases are probably unconnected and just coincidental, but you never know.....!
 
MelmothTheLost said:
It's certainly an interesting group of deaths. Had they occurred further up Calderdale, in the Todmorden or Hebden Bridge areas, I'd have said suicide was likely. That area does have a recognised high than average suicide rate. I suspect the death of the 77 year old was a simple accident: an old chap losing his way and then his footing on an unlit footpath.
Click to expand...

Very sad, such a beautiful town,so many suicides.
Would a killer seek out such areas to make some of the deaths appear to be suicides?
Speculation.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...en-bridge-become-suicide-central-1811034.html


Lena Corner
Saturday 31 October 2009
Why has Hebden Bridge become suicide central?
Once an industrious oasis, Hebden Bridge became a hippie paradise in the 1960s and latterly a middle-class hotspot. So how did it turn into the suicide capital of Yorkshire? The film-maker Jez Lewis returned to his home town – where 15 of his childhood friends have killed themselves in the past 20 years – to find out what went wrong in this troubled bohemian idyll
Click to expand...



[video=youtube;PBsURhlQbEo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBsURhlQbEo[/video]
 
CoverMeCagney said:
10 miles now! I've read 2, 3 and 5. Still, it's statistically odd. I think all these cases are probably unconnected and just coincidental, but you never know.....!
Click to expand...

I was looking at this thread yesterday and saw a map on the Huddersfield Examiner (I think) site, but I can't find it now.

I copied the map to see the distances in Earth. 10 miles is probably about right walking along the waterside, or within a radius of 3.5m from Mirfield.

Link to map, but don't know if it'll work trying to do it from my phone.

Copy of Kirklees waterways tragedies

https://goo.gl/maps/hqEb6bnwupF2
 
The plot thickens: Have you seen the man living in the purple tent by the River Calder?

Police are concerned for the safety of a man who may have been living in a tent close to where a body was found in the River Calder in Dewsbury. The purple coloured tent was found pitched on the river bank. Products inside it led officers to speak to a local supermarket, and officers believe the man may have been living in the tent. Det Insp Stef Wiseman, of Kirklees CID, said: “We are keen to speak to the man pictured to verify that it was him living in the tent, and that he is OK.

http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/you-seen-man-living-purple-11130291

I wonder they think he might be the UID body found just before Easter.
 
I'm not sold on the idea of a serial killer/pusher, but thought I'd add this (Leeds this time):

Woman, 33, rescued from Leeds Liverpool canal in middle of the night

A cordon remained in place yesterday as officers sought to determine how the woman ended up in the water and whether any further action was needed.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: “A scene is in place while officers establish the circumstances surrounding the incident.”
 
Legally Bland said:
I'm not sold on the idea of a serial killer/pusher, but thought I'd add this (Leeds this time):

Woman, 33, rescued from Leeds Liverpool canal in middle of the night

A cordon remained in place yesterday as officers sought to determine how the woman ended up in the water and whether any further action was needed.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: “A scene is in place while officers establish the circumstances surrounding the incident.”
Click to expand...

I'm sure I've also just read something about a man being rescued from the same river at Crown Point (nearer the city centre).

Pretty sure these Calder deaths aren't a "pusher", but I must admit I do wonder about Manchester. That said, if there IS someone pushing people in there would surely be survivors who would tell the story so I think it's unlikely. Statistically strange, though!
 
CoverMeCagney said:
I'm sure I've also just read something about a man being rescued from the same river at Crown Point (nearer the city centre).

Pretty sure these Calder deaths aren't a "pusher", but I must admit I do wonder about Manchester. That said, if there IS someone pushing people in there would surely be survivors who would tell the story so I think it's unlikely. Statistically strange, though!
Click to expand...

I guess this is the one you mean. Sounds lucky if he fell off the bridge.
__________

Firefighters pulled a man to safety after he fell into the River Aire at Crown Point in the early hours of Wednesday.

The man in his 40s, who had "had a bit to drink" fell from Crown Point Bridge at Hunslet at around 12.45am.



Read more: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news...hters-from-river-aire-1-7835827#ixzz4535NwcF3
 
CoverMeCagney said:
The family of local missing man Daniel France have been informed about the latest body found.

http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/police-say-latest-body-found-11116034

So I think, in order of being found:

1. 14th March, male, dressed in shorts and t-shirt, been there a while, not yet ID'd (confirmed Marcin Siarczylski)
2. 17th March, man ID'd as 19 year old Hamza Amer
3. 23rd March, 77 year old man pulled from water, died in hospital (this turned out to be George Bass)
4. 25th March, man found, no ID as yet
5. 30th March, fifth body found, possibly Daniel France.(confirmed)
Click to expand...

The first body has been identified as Polish national Marcin Siarczylski

So I think that just leaves one to be ID'd

http://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/news/identity-mans-body-confimed-ravensthorpe
 
CoverMeCagney said:
The first body has been identified as Polish national Marcin Siarczylski

So I think that just leaves one to be ID'd

http://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/news/identity-mans-body-confimed-ravensthorpe
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting. It also reminded me of an unidentified man that I stumbled on while browsing for someone else.

Its from 3.5 years ago mind, but I thought I may as well post it here. Just under a mile from where Hamza Amer was found by my reckoning.

MPB - UK Missing Persons Bureau
Unidentified case 12-007232

337_12-007232.jpg

Gender Male
Age Range 20 to 40
Ethnicity White European
Height (cm) 177cm
Build Medium
Date found 11 / 09 / 2012
Estimated Death 06 / 09 / 2012
Body or remains Body
Circumstances
Male body found floating in the river at Syngenta Chemical Complex, Huddersfield. He is believed to have been in the water for 1 week. He has no teeth.

Hair Brown - Receding
Facial hair Goatee
Eye colour Unknown
Distinguishing features
Lacking - unspecified teeth

Clothing
Footwear - Lace-up - Black - Smart leather shoes frm zara

Trousers - Jeans - Blue - Ladies size 16 'papaya' on button

Shirt/blouse - T-shirt - Pink

Jacket - Hooded - Black - Bench with zip up fastening

Belt - Brown - Woven

Huddersfield West Yorkshire
England

11/09/12 | West Yorkshire Police
Click to expand...

ETA: Forgot link.

http://missingpersons.police.uk/en/case/12-007232/lTZF44F
 
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