An unidentified body has been removed from its grave after 15 years.

Police reopened the ‘Bolney torso’ murder inquiry this week in the hope of identifying the headless and handless corpse which baffled detectives in the early 1990s.

A hearse collected the coffin yesterday from the cemetery in Western Road, Haywards Heath, where it has lain since a three-year police investigation hit a dead end in 1994.

The body was taken to an unnamed hospital for fresh tests to be carried out.

Senior officers believe scientific techniques developed since the case went cold could identify the body and solve the mystery of the man’s death.

They expect to return the body to its grave and rebury it this afternoon (Thurs), The man was discovered wrapped in carpet in undergrowth of Broxmead Lane, near Bolney, on October 11, 1991.

Inquries led police to a group of Germans living nearby but no-one was ever charged over the death.

The hands and head were never found and the man’s identity remains unknown.