Crime commissioner apologises for claiming ‘dead bodies’ found in woodland

A police and crime commissioner has apologised after claiming multiple human remains had been found in woodland during a murder investigation.

Alison Hernandez told a meeting of the Devon and Cornwall police and crime panel “dead bodies” had been found at Sticker, near St Austell.

She said investigations were ongoing to establish exactly how many had been found.

But Devon and Cornwall Police said the body of one man had been recovered from the woods and no other remains had been found.

Police and forensic experts have been carrying out extensive inquiries in the woodland since the discovery of the body of 43-year-old Daniel Coleman.

James Desborough, 39, is accused of murdering Mr Coleman between 2 June and 7 July. He is due back before Truro Crown Court next week.

Apologising, Ms Hernandez said: “In trying to be helpful I responded to an operational question at the police and crime panel, however, I was not fully up to date with the facts of the investigation.

“I apologise for any alarm this may have caused.

“The police have operational primacy over these matters.

“Any investigation will unfold rapidly and I was not in possession of all the facts at that time.”

Devon and Cornwall Police rejected Ms Hernandez’s claims, with Detective Superintendent Jon Bancroft saying: “We currently have three separate murder investigations being conducted in the Cornwall area.

“I have oversight of all of these investigations at this time, and can confirm they are being carried out independently of each other and are not believed to be linked.

“I can categorically state that we have recovered remains believed to be those of Daniel Coleman only from an area of woodland in Sticker.

“No other remains have been located at this scene to date.”