Keith Bennett: The 'evidence' that led to seven days of police searching Saddleworth Moor

A 'human jaw' which sparked the latest attempt to find Moors Murders victim Keith Bennett could be a 'plant-based' material, police have said. Forensic experts have spent the last week painstakingly excavating two areas of Saddleworth Moor in a bid to locate the 12-year-old's body.

But this afternoon (Friday) GMP announced the search had been brought to a close after 'no evidence of the presence of human remains' was found. For Keith's family, it means the agonising 58-year wait to discover the truth continues.

Det Chief Insp Cheryl Hughes today revealed more details of how the search came about. Author Russell Edwards, who says he's spent the last seven years trying to locate Keith's remains, contacted the police on Thursday, September 29, saying he had 'had located the body of Keith Bennett and had evidence of such'.

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Mr Edwards told police soil samples he had taken from the moor had been analysed by a chemist and found to include higher levels of elements which indicate the presence of human remains. He returned to the site to dig and discovered what he believed was a fruit stone, clothing material, hair and what he described as 'decaying body tissue'.

Mr Edwards also took a number of photographs which he sent to an archaeologist for analysis. The archaeologist informed him one of the photographs contained what they believed to be a human jaw.

Mr Edwards provided police with the samples and copies of the photographs he had taken, then took officers to dig site and provided grid references. The following day forensic archaeologists, forensic anthropologists and GMP crime scene investigators began a