Woman

The body of a woman was found in the River Wear.

The body was decomposed and the inquest heard that it was impossible from the condition of her body to say anything about the cause of death.

Her head was missing as was part of her left side, including her leg.

Her remains were found by a workman in the river. He said that when he first saw the body that he thought that it was a dummy.

It was initially thought that the remains might have been those of Molly Moselle who vanished in Sunderland twelve years earlier, and her brother was said to have telephoned the police about the finding to discuss it.

The description of the body was circulated to police throughout the North but no further information about it could be obtained.

The pathologist that carried out the post mortem said that he thought that the remains were those of a woman aged between 25 and 50 and that she would have been about 5ft 3in tall.

He said that he could not estimate the time of death but suggested that it was not more than 18 months earlier, however, he noted that her remains might have lain in silt for many years.

An open verdict was returned.