Woman’s severed head discovered by children playing on Scottish beach

TWO young sisters found the severed head of a woman as they played on a beach yesterday, police said.

The girls made the grim discovery near South Street in the town of Arbroath, in Angus, Scotland, at 10.30am. A hand has also been recovered from the beach.

An investigation was launched by police, who are trawling through missing persons files as they try to identify the woman.

Part of the beach has been cordoned off while a specialist team combs the area.

The sisters, from the Arbroath area, were playing on the beach during their Easter school holidays when they discovered the head in a plastic bag.

They immediately went home and told their mother, who contacted Tayside Police.

The force said the body parts were being removed and would be subject to further “detailed forensic examination”.

Police said they were in “close contact” with the girls’ family, but they had not requested counselling.

Residents and politicians in the seaside town expressed their shock at the gruesome find.

Patricia Millar, 54, chairwoman of the Royal Burgh of Arbroath Community Council, said: “I was shocked and appalled to hear of this tragedy in our town. This is the kind of thing you hear about in big cities. I never expected it to happen here. My sympathies go out to the two children who made the discovery. It must have been terrible to see such a gruesome thing at such a tender age.”

A local woman fish worker, based at nearby Seagate, who did not wish to be named, said: “When I came to work I saw police standing about and then I heard that a head had been found.

“I watched police examine something on the beach further away and then they came closer and began looking at something else.”

Yesterday afternoon, officers wearing white protective suits, face masks and blue gloves worked next to what appeared to be a large blue and silver tarpaulin lying on the beach. Later the tarpaulin was lifted as the team prepared to move the body parts.

A police spokeswoman said officers “found what appears to be the head of a woman concealed in a plastic bag”.

“A hand has also been recovered from the beach.”