Crimewatch appeal to identify man found dead in North Wales Forest

Detectives from North Wales police launched an appeal for help on BBC Crimewatch this evening in an effort to identify the body of a man found murdered in a remote forest in North Wales.

In November last year, two brothers were camping in the forest in Conwy ahead of the Wales Rally GB when they made a gruesome discovery.

Whilst searching for firewood, they uncovered human remains.

North Wales Police launched a large-scale forensic search and were able to recover virtually an entire male skeleton.

Pathology indicated the man had died from blunt trauma to the head, and a murder investigation was launched.

Since then, detectives have worked tirelessly to find the identity of this man and despite gathering some vital clues, his identity is still unknown

The police have some clues from the scene – a label from a pair of badly decomposed Marks & Spencer underpants sized L, and pieces of a badly decomposed jumper, which was later revealed to be an XL sized Pringle jumper.

Police are unable to confirm if these were worn by the victim at the time.

Image: BBC CRIMEWATCH

Police believe the person was killed elsewhere and left at this site.

They estimate this would have been sometime between 1995 and 2005, based on the growth of the trees in the area and the decomposition of the body.

From the remains they have also obtained a full DNA profile, which did not match anyone on the database.

The police have also worked with forensic artists to reconstruction what the victim may have looked like to help people identify him.

The identity of the victim is the key to opening up the murder investigation and to ultimately finding out how this person died, and who killed him.

Crimewatch exclusively revealed these images in the hope that someone will recognise this man. Image: BBC CRIMEWATCH

Anyone who thinks they may recognise the man can call police in confidence on 101.

Additional reporting via BBC CRIMEWATCH