Police searching for Moors murder victim Keith Bennett are preparing a dig after a skull was found near to where he is thought to have been killed, it has been reported.
The boy was snatched, aged just 12, by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley some 58 years ago – but the case has never been fully resolved.
Now, detectives are preparing a new dig after the skull was found on Saddleworth Moor in the Peak District.
Forensic anthropologists from Greater Manchester Police have already been examining potential samples of body tissue taken from the area.
It is hoped the breakthrough could help police crack the infamous case which has been unresolved since the youngster was lured into a car by Hindley in 1964.
He is the only Moors murder victim whose body has never been found after Brady and Hindley refused to say where they had buried him.
Forensic archaeologist Dawn Keen said: “I do believe there are human remains there. They [police] have got to look.”
She told the Daily Mail: “From the photographs, I saw the teeth, I could see the canines, I could see the incisors, I could see the first molar. It is the left side of an upper jaw. There is no way that it is an animal."
