Outlaw Ned Kelly’s remains identified

THE headless remains of Australia’s most infamous criminal Ned Kelly have been identified, ending a decades-long mystery surrounding the whereabouts of the folk hero’s body.

Kelly, who led a gang of bank robbers in Australia’s southern Victoria state in the 19th century, was hanged in 1880. His final resting place was unknown, though it was suspected his body lay alongside 33 other executed inmates in a mass grave at a prison.

Officials pinpointed the location of the grave site in 2008 and later exhumed the bodies for analysis. A DNA sample from one of Kelly’s descendants confirmed that one of the skeletons — which was missing most of its skull — was that of the notorious Ned, said Victoria attorney general Robert Clark.