Crusader’s missing head turns up in a bag

A SKULL stolen from a church vault is set to be reunited with its body after gardaí yesterday recovered the missing remains.

The head of the 800-year-old mummy known as ‘The Crusader’ was discovered alongside another skull that vanished after vandals broke into St Michan’s Church in Dublin’s north inner city.

Gardaí from the Bridewell Station on Church Street made the discovery yesterday after getting confidential information.

According to security sources, the heads were found in a bag in the grounds of St Michan’s Church.

Sources also revealed that there is good CCTV footage of the robbery, which took place between February 23 and February 25, Found: Stolen skull from vault showing a white male in his 40s breaking into the premises with an iron bar and emerging with the skull in a bag.

It is understood that gardaí hope to make an arrest soon.

The archdeacon of the church, David Pierpoint, said that he was ‘eternally grateful’ to the person who returned the head and skull. While he could not divulge where they had been recovered, they had been left in an ‘accessible place’ by someone who told gardaí where to find them.

According to the archdeacon, there only seemed to be ‘a little bit of damage’ to the skull but he noted concerns about the heist’s long-term impact on the remains. ‘My fear is once the drying-out process takes place, they might crumble but we’ll wait and hear from the expert,’ he said.

The Crusader is one of the main attractions in the church, which draws 27,000 visitors a year.

In the aftermath of the robbery, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Dr Michael Jackson condemned the desecration of the vault and appealed to those responsible to ‘examine their consciences’ and return the remains.