Man arrested on suspicion of murder after body found at tip

Horrified tip workers find body of elderly man in freezer that had been removed from flat in house clearance as man, 50, is arrested on suspicion of murder

  • The body of an elderly man was found inside the freezer in Exhall, Warwickshire
  • It had been moved from a Birmingham flat by a housing association
  • Man, 50, believed to be known to the victim, was arrested in Derby 

A 50-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a tip worker found the body of an elderly man when he opened a discarded freezer. 

The freezer was moved from a flat clearance in Birmingham to a waste management centre in Colliery Lane, Exhall, before the shocking discovery was made. 

The victim is yet to be formally identified. A post-mortem will be carried out tomorrow to help with the identification.

The 50-year-old man is believed to have been known to the victim, said police, and was taken into police custody in Derby. 

West Midlands police said enquiries were ongoing and that a murder investigation had been launched. 

The body was found in a freezer that was transported to Colliery Lane, Exhall, from a flat in Birmingham. (Pictured above is a tip on Colliery Lane, Exhall

One employee based on the company estate, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘We heard the body was stuffed inside a fridge at first.

‘But it looks like it was found in a chest freezer and as the workmen were unloading it at the skip place it opened up and they found the body.

‘They have two sites around here which deal with vans and lorries from house clearances for councils as well as unloading commercial skips.

‘It’s like something from a mafia film and not what you’d expect to happen on an industrial estate in Coventry.’

A second employee, who also wished to remain anonymous, said: ‘The place was swarming with police the other day but its been quiet since.

‘We wondered what was going on but when we heard it was a body found in a freezer, we couldn’t quite believe it.

‘It’s a really horrible thing to have happened. I know some of the lads up there but they’ve been told not to say anything. It must have been awful.’

The body was found at the large industrial estate around 5pm on Friday. 

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