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Human remains have been found in woods where a notorious serial killer left one of his victims more than 20 years ago.

North Wales Police made the grisly discovery after being called to a wooded area near Cerrigydrudion, Conwy.

Officers continue to search the site and recover the human remains, which appear to have been there for a significant time, while forensic experts are looking at the vegetation surrounding the scene.

The search site is near to where Peter Moore, who murdered four men for sexual gratification in 1995 , left the body of his youngest victim.

Moore – who is serving a whole life sentence but still maintains his innocence – was a respectable Conwy businessman by day and a psychopathic sexual predator by night.

Read more: Wales' most notorious killers who were given whole-life sentences

He was dubbed “the man in black” after committing a series of violent sexual assaults on men for over 40 years, culminating in the murder of four men in the space of three months in 1995.

In that year he killed Henry Roberts, Edward Carthy, Keith Randalls and Tony Davies in violent, frenzied attacks, with each victim sustaining multiple stab wounds.

Since the human remains were discovered, forensic experts have been spotted at the forestry, near to Clocaenog forest, where Moore buried the body of 28-year-old Mr Carthy after meeting him in a Merseyside bar.

Anthropology and soil experts have been drafted in to try to give a clue as to who it might be, but police have so far been unable to say whether the remains are that of a man or woman.

Det Supt John Hanson, who is heading the inquiry, said: “This continues to be a lengthy and delicate process to recover the remains which has been hampered by adverse weather and a difficult environment in which to work.

“Experts who specialise in forensic anthropology and soil forensics are assisting and their contribution is significant in assisting us to age and identify what we have been able to recover.”

“At present we have been unable to identify the deceased and the cause of death continues to be subject of an investigation. We are keeping an open mind, but we will be better informed once all the remains have been recovered and examined.”

“The coroner has been informed and a full post mortem will be conducted when recovery is complete.”

Moore was arrested soon after the murder of Tony Davies on Pensarn Beach, Abergele, and sentenced to life imprisonment in November 1996.

Mold Crown Court heard that he took sexual pleasure in stabbing and mutilating his victims – but he insisted that the true killer was his lover ‘Jason’, named after the Friday the 13th character, and has continued to maintain his innocence for 20 years.

Prosecutors described him as ‘the man in black’ due to the fact that he always wore his trademark disguise of black clothes, representative of his obsession with Nazi memorabilia.