Bid to identify man killed in disused Forest Gate factory Published duration 20 September 2019 Related Topics London violence

image copyright Met Police image caption The skeletal remains of the man were found wrapped in a sleeping bag

A facial reconstruction has been created in a bid to identify a skeleton found wrapped in a sleeping bag in a disused factory.

The remains were discovered in a building in Upton Lane, Forest Gate, in 2016, but tests have shown the man was killed at least 10 years earlier.

The Met said the skull "had a visible crack" while the dead man's blood was found in another part of the factory.

No arrests have been made over the discovery.

Officers were first called to the factory on 29 April 2016 shortly before 16:00 BST.

Chewing tobacco

In the following months, archaeologists helped excavate the site while specialist officers and a forensic anthropologist studied the skeletal remains.

A search of the four-storey building led to the victim's blood being discovered in a room on the first floor and police believe the attack had happened there.

Scotland Yard said that carbon dating carried out on the body has shown the man was born between 1971 and 1974 and died between 2003 and 2006.

While a DNA sample taken from the body showed no match with the UK's national DNA database, examinations on the body have shown the man was between 5 ft 4 ins to 5 ft 8 ins (163cm to 173cm) in height.

A type of chewing tobacco sold only on the Indian subcontinent was also found in the sleeping bag.

But investigators have not been able to pinpoint the man's origin, and said he could also have been from Asia, Europe, North Africa or the Middle East.