[imagesource:wallpaperflare]

Modern breakthroughs in forensic and medical technologies have opened up a world of unsolved crimes that hark back to Jack the Ripper days, and a new BBC series is now taking a look at one of the UK’s most peculiar crimes known as The Body in the Tree.

Tracing the origins of the story back to April 18, 1943, during World War Two, the series will examine the discovery of a woman’s body inside a Wych Elm tree in Hagley Woods, on the Black Country-Worcestershire border.

The Birmingham Mail reports that the grim discovery was made by four boys and as the young woman was never identified, she became known as ‘Hagley Wood Bella’. Almost 80 years later, the murder as well as the identity of the killer remains a mystery.

Using science that wasn’t available during the war along with original police files, a new BBC series called The Body in the Tree will follow researchers as they attempt to sift through the evidence and crack the case.

There have been many theories around the murder, and as a morbid curiosity grew around the case, stories of witchcraft and the occult, as well as the possibility of the woman having been a German spy only added to the mystery. Since then many books have been written on the case and Simon Holt even wrote an opera about ‘Hagley Wood Bella’.

The official verdict of an inquest into the death was “murder by person or persons unknown” but police investigations ended up at a dead end.

Prof James Webster, who did the post-mortem at the time was unable to determine how she died, but ruled that she hadn’t gotten into the tree of her own accord.

One of the children who found the body was Bob Farmer, who told the BBC during an interview 20 years ago: “Just the head was on the surface and a bone protruding from the earth. I think you could see a shoe or a pair of shoes all scattered about with the rotting fabric of what was left of her dress.”

As you might have guessed, there’s not all that much ‘evidence’ to go on. One of the researchers, hoping to find answers, is forensic psychiatrist Dr. John Sandford, who will run into his first obstacle immediately – there is no body to examine.

The ‘historic remains’ were last seen displayed at a Birmingham police training centre until the early 1970’s, after that, the trail runs cold and the body’s whereabouts remain unknown.

Dr. Sanford is joined by Prof Maggie Andrews, an expert in cultural history at the University of Worcester, who tries to interpret why ‘Bella’ has become such an intriguing figure in the UK.

“Constraining them in a tree has a horrible spooky and unpleasant feel to it and that adds to people’s fascination with it. There’s a sense of the very disposability of women.”

The truth is nobody really knows what went down on that fateful day when the world was still at war. Perhaps the series will be able to shed some light on the mystery, but with so little to go on, the mystery of the body in the tree may remain just that – a mystery.

For all you true crime fans out there, this is an ideal way to spend those cold stormy nights when the power goes out. You can find The Body In The Tree on BBC Programs.

[source:bbc&birminghammail]