Boy

The body of an unidentified boy was found dead in Heaton Park in Manchester.

His cause of death was given as asphyxia and it was noted that six of his teeth were missing, having appeared to have been knocked out by a violent blow.

He was found by a boy that had been playing ‘Cowboys and Indians' in the park with some other children. The boy said that he and two other boys went to hide in some bushes when he saw part of a leg protruding from some leaves. He said that when they raked them away, they saw the body and that he then ran home and told his mother.

The police said that there was every possibility that the child's body had been carried or conveyed to the spot and then dumped there.

A park employee said that he had found a child's pushchair abandoned in the park about a week earlier, which the police said would have equated approximately to the date of the child's death.

The police appealed for information on any missing children in the area.