Police searching for man after human remains found in suitcases

Police are continuing to search for a suspect following the discovery of two suitcases containing human remains in Bristol.

Officers were called to reports of a man with a suitcase acting suspiciously on Clifton Suspension Bridge at 11.57pm on Wednesday.

Witnesses described how the man, who arrived at the bridge in a taxi, was challenged after the “tatty” suitcase was seen to be leaking blood.

He left the scene, reportedly chased by a cyclist, and made off in the direction of Leigh Woods, leaving the suitcase behind.

Avon and Somerset Police said officers arrived at the scene within 10 minutes and discovered that the suitcase, along with a second located a short distance from the bridge, contained human remains.

Searches, including with the police helicopter and the Coastguard, have continued since the incident but the suspect is yet to be located.

The force has released two pictures of him, showing a black man with a beard, wearing a black Adidas baseball cap, black jeans, a black jacket and black trainers with thick white soles and carrying a black backpack.

Police have urged people not to approach him and to call 999 if he is sighted, but have said they are unaware of any current risk to the wider public.

Clifton Suspension Bridge was closed on Thursday while forensic investigations took place.

Council cleaning teams attended on Thursday evening, with the bridge then reopening at just after 11pm.

Speaking on Friday morning, Acting Bristol Commander Vicks Hayward-Melen said searches were continuing to locate the suspect.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’re still looking for him to speak with him about his presence on the bridge and the matters leading up to the suitcases being located.

“With regard to the officers and the initial attendance and then what they found inside, clearly a really horrendous discovery for them and we’re making sure we continue to support them.”

She confirmed that a forensic post-mortem examination on the remains, which began on Thursday, continued on Friday.

Mrs Hayward-Melen added: “The process is complex and lengthy, working with the forensic pathologist. It’s still ongoing at this time.”

She confirmed the suspect was taken to the bridge in a taxi, which has been seized by police.

The taxi driver is helping officers with the investigation.

When asked about the cyclist following the suspect, she said police were appealing for witnesses with information “no matter how small” to come forward.

She said this included “anybody who may have had any interaction with the individual”.

Police are urging anyone who sees the suspect to call 999 immediately.

Mrs Hayward-Melen added: “We’ve got no information to suggest they pose an active risk to wider members of the public but clearly we do want to speak to them, so we would advise (calling) 999 immediately please if you see anybody matching the description of the man I showed the photograph of yesterday.”

Witnesses described seeing two men with suitcases in the Clifton area of Bristol, a short distance from the bridge, on Wednesday evening.

Giles Malone told ITV News West Country he had been waiting for an Uber near The Mall pub when he saw two men lifting suitcases across the road shortly after 10.30pm.

He said: “We were stood there waiting for our car and a man and another man got out of another car across the street and they were lifting these suitcases across the road for some reason, right by us.

“Another lady started to help them and the lady who was helping them said ‘These are the heaviest suitcases I’ve ever lifted – what’s in them, bodies’?”

Mr Malone, who lives in North Carolina but is in Bristol visiting his father, described the cases as “big” and “tatty”, ITV News West Country said.

Another witness, University of Bristol student Reece Wright, told the BBC he had been walking near the bridge with his girlfriend on Wednesday evening.

“As we were walking along and got towards the other end, we thought we could see blood on the pavement of the bridge,” Mr Wright said.

“As we kept walking further along, we went down and turned and heard commotion behind us and we saw a cyclist chasing after a man who was just running away.

“He was making a lot of noise. They stopped and the guy managed to get away.”

Mr Wright said one of the suitcases, which was blue, had two wheels broken off and “red stuff which we now know to be blood leaking out of the side near the zip, it was quite graphic”.

Another witness, who asked to remain anonymous, told Bristol Live that the man running off was shouting in Spanish.

He told the website: “There was blood on the floor along the bridge.

“The man who had the cases ran from the bridge staff and I saw him being chased by a member of the public on a bike – he was shouting something in Spanish.”

Police confirmed on Thursday that they have been in contact with the family of missing man Jack O’Sullivan, 23, who was last seen in Bristol on March 2.

Mrs Hayward-Melen said this was to “inform them of the incident”, adding “no parallels are actively being drawn”.

Clifton Suspension Bridge, a Grade I listed landmark which spans the Avon Gorge, was designed by noted Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and opened in 1864.

Carla Denyer, the Green MP for Bristol Central, said on Thursday: “I am deeply disturbed by the horrifying discovery of human remains at Clifton Suspension Bridge overnight.

“Distressing events like this are unsettling for all of us who call Bristol home and are proud of our city.”

She thanked police for their work on the case.

Anyone who sees the suspect, or has information about his location, is urged to call 999, quoting reference 5224180010 to the call handler.

People with information should submit it through Avon and Somerset Police’s major incident public portal, or by calling the major incident room on 0800 056 0944, if calling from the UK, or 0207 158 0010 from abroad.