Episode Details

In 1971, an off-duty constable walking near an abandoned flint mill beside the River Trent in Burton upon Trent found what he first thought was a piece of cement, until he saw it was part of a human skull. Beneath the earth lay the skeletal remains of a young man, naked, bound hand and foot, and buried in a shallow grave in a kneeling position, with only pink socks and a wedding ring left to suggest he had once belonged somewhere.

More than five decades later, he is still known only as “Fred the Head”, a nickname born from the first body part uncovered, not a name anyone who loved him ever gave him. Fingerprints, dental work, facial reconstructions, DNA testing, and possible matches have all failed to restore his identity, making him Staffordshire’s oldest unsolved murder victim: a man who was brutally hidden away, but never reported missing by anyone police could find.