Scar clue to severed-head woman

A DISTINCTIVE circular scar could be the key to identifying the woman whose severed head was found on a Scottish beach, police said last night.

Detectives investigating the gruesome discovery yesterday revealed the woman who died was a white European in her mid-20s to 30s.

She had brown eyes, brown eyebrows and shoulder-length brown hair. Her nails were well groomed and her ears unpierced.

The details emerged after it was confirmed a second severed hand was found on the sand and shingle at the Seagate beach in the Angus town of Arbroath.

Tayside Police recovered the severed head and hands within a short distance of each other. It is understood all three body parts belong to the same woman.

It was also clear last night that the woman, who has still to be officially classified as a murder victim, was killed only a relatively short time before the remains were either thrown into the sea in plastic bags or simply dumped on the high-tide line at the popular beach, close to the town's Victoria Park.

Detective Chief Inspector Graham McMillan, who is heading what is now a massive international inquiry, said the force was satisfied that, following a detailed search of the foreshore, there were no further human remains to be found. But he said: "Who knows the vagaries of the seas – who knows what may come up later."

DCI McMillan stressed: "We are treating this as a suspicious incident until such time as we can identify this woman which is key to the whole investigation. Identifying this woman is crucial in advancing our investigation. Once we have got that then hopefully things will start to fall into place."

He revealed: "She had a pale complexion, some light freckling across the nose and cheek bones and she has distinctive depressed circular scar in the middle of her forehead, just below the hair line. It was in the region of an inch and a half to two inches.

"Her nails were short but appear to have been well kept, well maintained and groomed. And her ears were not pierced which is quite unusual, I would suggest."

Police are today set to issue an artist's impression of the victim in a further bid to identify her.

DCI McMillan said the investigation team was keeping an open mind on whether the body parts had been dumped at sea or on the beach where they were found by two schoolgirls on Monday morning.

The cordon around the beach was lifted shortly after lunch-time yesterday and within minutes children were once more playing there in the warm spring sunshine.

The mother of the two "traumatised" children who made the grim discovery said yesterday that they were haunted by fears that the "killer" could come after them. "I can't say at the moment if they are going to be all right or not. They are very shaken up. They are worried that the person who did this to the woman could do it to them."