A HUMAN skull and bones found in a rural Barnsley village are believed to have been buried about four years ago.

Excavation work is continuing on land in the Swaithe area and a police cordon remains in place after the bones were discovered off Mitchell Street on February 4.

Officers have been working at the site this week to find more evidence but the senior investigating officer in the case has revealed he believes the person died in the past four years.

DCI Martin Tate said: “Specialised police search teams are methodically excavating the site for further evidence. It’s important to search every piece of earth in relevant areas. This process will take days, if not weeks.

“I now believe that the person died in the last four years. There is no evidence at this time of a crime taking place but the area of discovery still raises concerns. Work will focus on identifying this person and informing the family as a priority.”

DCI Tate’s belief that the bones do not not date back historically rules out initial speculation that they were the bones of Edmund Neil Spencer, who lived in Barnsley town centre and was last seen in Goldthorpe in January 2002.

Edmund’s daughter, Cherece Spencer, said: “Police have told us that the bones aren’t my dad’s and that’s a relief to us. He’s been missing for 16 years and in a way it’s better not knowing now, as it drags up so much upset for our family.

“My nan only had one and she’s now 83 so to go through it all again would be unbearable.”

Another line of enquiry is that the bones could be that of Thomas Groome, who was murdered in Doncaster in 2010. Two people were convicted, but Mr Groome’s body was never found.

“At this stage we are still treating the death as unexplained,” DCI Tate added. “The area of discovery does raise concerns as it is rural and off the beaten track. While there hasn’t been any clear indicators at this time that signify an offence may have taken place, we most definitely are not ruling this out and there is still a vast amount of work to be done.

“Our priority is to focus on identifying this person and informing the family, as he will have been someone’s loved one and they need to be given the opportunity to come to terms with their loss.”

Anyone with information is asked to call 101 and quote incident number 605 of February 4.