“It’s not everyday an eight-year-old finds a skull at the back of your house"

On Saturday afternoon (September 14), eight-year-old Mikey Robertson was playing out with his friend and sister at a park in Dukinfield - something they had done on many occasions in the past.

Having played in the playground at Tame Valley Community Green off Park Road, the two boys had ventured up into a nearby woodland to explore and to ‘find new places’. But when they had climbed up a muddy hill at the back of the woods - in-between where the park meets Dukinfield Cemetery - they made the grim discovery of three skulls lying on the ground.

Running back home, Mikey told his mum, Clair Derbyshire, and his dad, who asked not to be named, about what he had found. Unconvinced it was anything serious, he gave his son his phone and told him to take a picture of the discovery in a bid to dispel that it was something to be worried about.

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“They were just playing out in the back in the woods,” his dad told the Manchester Evening News this afternoon. “They’re always there. He came back and told me that he had found some skulls and, I’ll be honest, I just didn’t believe him. When he came back with a photo on my phone, I was quite surprised about it - there was no mistaking what it was.”

Having rung the police, Mikey and his 14-year-old sister, Poppy Maynard, led officers back to the scene - resulting in the area at Dukinfield Cemetery and on the surrounding streets being immediately cordoned off.

As officers patrolled the grounds overnight to carry out investigations, a statement was issued on Sunday morning (September 15) to report that suspected human remains were found on Park Road, near Dukinfield Cemetery.

Officers later concluded on Sunday