Police have launched an investigation after builders discovered a plastic bag containing ‘human bones’ in a churchyard.
Officers cordoned a large area on Monday outside St Wilfrid’s Parish Church cemetery on Church Lane, Doncaster, after the grisly discovery on Monday.
The workers were clearing a top level of overgrowth with a digger so they could install a wooden fence when they uncovered a black plastic bag containing a ‘dismembered body’.
One worker – who does not want to be named – said they had just removed a top layer of grass and soil by a tall stone wall ahead of digging in new fence posts when they spotted it.
‘We must have removed one or two feet worth of overgrowth when we came across the black plastic bag,’ he said.
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‘It split, and all of a sudden, bones and a jaw still containing teeth rolled out in front of us.’
He added: ‘It’s almost as if someone has chucked the bones behind the wall and put some grass and soil over them to hide it.’
The workers quickly told their company of the discovery, who then contacted the police.
Within a few hours, police arrived and cordoned off the area before crime scene investigators probed the remains.
Photos from the scene showed a jaw still with its teeth intact inside the plastic bag next to a pile of bones, including what he believed to be a skull.
The workers said nothing else was found inside the bag.
Police have confirmed that bones found in a black plastic bag near a graveyard by two builders are human remains.
Officers have since said the bones date back a ‘number’ of decades, and are not being treated as suspicious.
Detective Chief Inspector Simon Cartwright said: ‘We are looking into the circumstances which resulted in these bones being found by contractors carrying out works in the area.
‘We are acutely aware these remains are somebody’s loved one and we assure the local community that we are carrying out our enquiries with all of the sensitivity you would expect.
‘Early forensic analysis has been completed, and we believe no suspicious circumstances surround them.’