Metal plate clue to moors mystery man

Police are still trying to identify this man

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A FOUR-INCH strip of titanium is the latest clue in an international hunt to solve the mystery of a dead man found on the Saddleworth moors.

The piece of metal was discovered screwed into the dead man’s left thighbone in an examination of the body.

The drama unfolded before Christmas when the man, believed to be in his sixties or seventies, was tracked on CCTV travelling from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly on December 11. He was found dead the following day on a grassy lay-by just off a rock-strewn path near Rob Rocks on Saddleworth moor.

Det Sgt John Coleman, from Oldham CID, is heading a team working to identify the man.

He said: “We have established he had a significant injury between 2001-2015. The metal was fitted to his left femur sometime between those dates in Pakistan — but it doesn’t mean he was Pakistani.

“I am still awaiting the hospital details from Treu Dynamic, the specialist company which supplied the metal, and then I will be speaking to the Pakistan Health Authorities and the British Consulate in Pakistan.”

The piece of metal bore Treu Dynamics logo and a symbol “130 degrees”, showing the angle the metal was placed into the hip. The enormity of the police task was emphasised when Sgt Coleman revealed the company supplies up to 500 titanium plates a year to 15 hospitals across the country.

“That would add up to approximately 105,000 patients over 14 years,” he explained.

“And even if we narrow it down by gender, ethnicity, patient age and the actual positioning of the plate on the man’s left femur we are still left with at least 25,000 possible sources.

Police have circulated the man’s picture to every GP in Britain and contacted Interpol to extend inquiries across Europe. Anyone with information should call police on 0161-872 5050.