New Lead Into Luke Durbin Disappearance

4 March 2014, 09:42 | Updated: 4 March 2014, 09:43

Police officers investigating the disappearance of 19-year-old Luke Durbin have found a human bone in woodland in Ufford.

The teenager, from Hollesley near Woodbridge, went missing in May 2006 and police renewed the investigation into his whereabouts last year.

During searches by the specialist team on 21 February in the wooded area between the B1438 and The Avenue/Parklands, officers found a small piece of human bone.

Tests are currently being carried out on the bone fragment to find out how old it is, whether it's male or female and possibly to identify who it belongs to.

Officers will continue to search the area of woodland for any more evidence.

Detective Superintendent John Brocklebank who is leading the investigation into the disappearance of Luke Durbin said:

"Officers have been searching the woodland area in Ufford as part of our continued enquiries into Luke’s disappearance. We knew Luke frequented this area prior to him going missing and as well as other lines of enquiry, we have also recently searched the woodland area.

"At this very early stage we cannot make any assumptions about the discovery of the small piece of bone, however we have had it confirmed that it is human.

"We now need to establish the identity of the bone which will be carried out by Forensic Anthropologists. This process may take weeks. We also need to carry out a more detailed search of the area, which again may take a number of weeks.

"We have advised Luke’s family of the discovery, but we are keen to stress that we cannot and will not speculate that this is Luke. We need to pass the work to specialists in this field to establish the identity of the bone.”