Man identified in Kersal murder investigation as further remains found at Salford nature reserves

Detective Superintendent Lewis Hughes, Senior Investigating Officer for this investigation, gave the following statement to the media at 6pm this afternoon at Blackleach reservoir:

We have continued to make significant progress in our investigation into human remains being found in Kersal earlier this month.

From day one, our priority has been to identify the man and his family so that we can give them the support and the answers that they need.

Thanks to meticulous forensic work, we are now confident we have identified the man. Formal identification hasn’t yet taken place, but we believe he is a man in his 60s and lived in Salford.

Specially-trained family liaison officers have met with his family this afternoon to give them the devastating news, and we will do all that we can to support them at this awful time.

We believe he is known to the two suspects we have in custody. They have remained in custody for questioning over the weekend, as we work to establish how the victim met this tragic outcome.

We have painstakingly worked to follow up every line of inquiry in this investigation. Over the last couple of days, we have acted on information and had four scenes in place for extensive searches – one of them is at a warehouse in Bury, and three of them are in Salford, including here at Blackleach reservoir.

Today, we have found some human remains at the reservoir here, and last night a dog walker found a package containing human remains at Colliery Wood. Forensic tests will continue to establish whose remains these are, but we are very confident that this is also the victim in our investigation.

We have also been searching a house in Winton where we believe the victim and the two suspects lived. We have found evidence that the victim is likely to have died there – most likely in late March.

While this is significant progress, we know there is still some way to go to complete this investigation. I also recognise details of this case will have been distressing for the people of Salford and beyond - including the officers that are diligently working on this investigation, and most importantly the man’s heartbroken family.

Local officers will continue to patrol the affected areas, and we will provide updates when we have more information.

Thank you.