Nine skinned pigs' heads found lined up on a pavement in grisly 'ritual'

Mark Waters made the grim discovery as he arrived for work in Middlesbrough on Saturday morning

Nine pigs heads complete with teeth and eyes have been found, dumped in a street, after being skinned.

They were found on a pavement in King Edwards Road, Middlesbrough, by builder Mark Waters as he arrived for work on Saturday morning.

Environmental health teams are now looking into the grisly find and they are looking into the possibility that it was part of an odd sport's club initiation ceremony.

A spokesman said: 'Our officers were made aware of a number of discarded animal heads on Saturday morning which are believed to have been dumped in a nearby skip.

'Investigations are on-going as to the source of the animal parts and how they came to be in the road.'

The remains were cleared by Middlesbrough's area care team.

A student who lives close by said: 'There have been a lot of initiations into sports clubs recently so maybe it was something to do with that.'

Although there are no butcher's shops in the immediate vicinity, a number of restaurants and takeaways back onto the road on which the pigs' heads were found.

Another theory that is circulating around the area is that they were being used for the meat in their cheeks then put into a nearby skip.

A source said: 'I suspect that someone, or a group of people, has had a bit to drink, gone past the skip and seen the heads and thought it would be funny to do something like this.

'I don't think it was a ritual or anything like that, but it's not every day you see the bi-product of the food we eat every day in such a way.'



Police said the matter was now being dealt with by Environmental Health.

Theories are flying around that the pigs could have been involved in some bizarre ritual for a student sports club

Students, particularly sports clubs, have long been associated with odd initiation rituals, often landing them in hot water for their antics.



In 2006, Exeter University banned initiations after a student died from alcohol poisoning on a night out with student golfers.



Another popular one with rugby clubs is for various alcoholic drinks to be put into a pint glass and then drunk by a new member or man of the match through a sock that has been used in a game.



In 2008 the University of Gloucestershire investigated students after a group was seen wearing plastic bags over their head and drinking to the point of vomiting.

