Human remains found in Croydon park after murder investigation launched

Police say human remains have been found in a Croydon park and detectives are treating the incident as foul play.

Police said they were called to Rowdown Fields in New Addington just after 9am on April 2 following reports of “possible human remains”.

The Metropolitan Police said the remains were sent for analysis before they were confirmed to be human.

Detectives currently believe the remains “belong to one of the victims.”

However, they said officials could not release details about the person’s identity at this time.

Detective Inspector Martin Thorpe, of the Metropolitan Police’s specialist crime command, said: “Samples have been sent for urgent forensic analysis and I expect a special post-mortem examination to be carried out later this week.”

“We will not provide specific details about the search in the area but I can confirm that we have discovered further remains since yesterday.

“After consulting with forensic anthropologists, we are convinced these are humans.

“At this time, our search is not complete so locals will continue to see police in the area.”

He added that police’s first priority now was to identify the victim.

“Until we have a fuller set of facts through an autopsy, we cannot confirm the age, race or gender of this individual,” he said.

“A family has lost a loved one and as a team we are committed to finding them and making sure they get the answers they need to cope with their loss.”

Sergeant Lewis Collins, who oversees policing for the Metropolitan Police’s South District, which includes Croydon, described the discovery as “extremely disturbing”.

“Over the past day or so, our borough’s community has come together to provide officers with the space they need to do this important work,” he said.

“We are extremely grateful for their support and we continue to ask that speculation about this case be kept to a minimum. We will update people as soon as we have the latest information to share.”

The crime scene at Rowdown Fields remains and inquiries are ongoing.

Police said they were not searching any other locations at this stage.