Nine bodies were never identified over 50 years

POLICE have renewed a 50-year-old appeal over the identity of a man whose body was discovered inside a derelict Black Country house.

The man, who is believed to have taken his own life, was found in Smethwick on September 10, 1970. Mystery still surrounds his identity of the man who was a 5ft 4ins, Asian, of thin build, and aged between 40 and 50.

He was smartly dressed, in a dark Burton suit, blue shirt and an orange and white pullover. He also had a pair of glasses in his possession.

His body is one of nine that remain unidentified by West Midlands Police.

The others were all discovered around the Birmingham area but only six are listed on the UK Missing Persons Unit website.

The most recent body found in the region was recovered from the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal at Erdington, on November 4, 2010.

The man was believed to have been in the water between 23 and 44 hours before he was found.

He was believed to be between 40 and 50 years old, of white European descent, 5ft 6ins tall, of medium build and with greying hair and facial stubble.

The man was wearing a dark jumper with cream horizontal stripes and flat black shoes with Velcro fasteners.

Other cases include a man who collapsed and died in the street in Birmingham city centre back in June 1990 and a woman recovered from an ornamental pool in

Handsworth Park in December 1974.

Whenever police find a body that cannot be identified, the details are published by UK Missing Persons Unit within 48 hours – provided the investigating force agrees information should be shared publicly.

DNA is now routinely taken from unidentified remains and is uploaded onto the Missing Persons DNA Database, to be checked against the profiles of missing people already uploaded onto the system.

Dental records can also be used where there is no DNA available but every effort is made to extract DNA which is kept on record until a match is found.

However in older cases, before DNA was routinely taken, bodies may have been buried, making it unlikely they will ever be identified.

As of March 31, 2020, police forces across the whole of the UK held a total of 643 bodies, and a further 149 partial remains of bodies.

That was an increase of 10 bodies and eight partial remains from the previous year.