Gardai at the scene after a human leg was found at the Thornton's Recycling plant in west Dublin

The remains of a man who gardai say was mutilated was missing the arms and head when officers recovered body parts.

The probe into the find at Thorntons recycling centre in Ballyfermot is continuing this weekend, with specialist detectives assigned to examining more than 200 skips that were in operation last week.

GRISLY

The Herald can reveal that gardai still do not have any identity for the victim, but are "pretty certain" that he met a grisly death.

Despite small skull fragments being found, senior sources say that the victim's arms and head were not located but his legs, pelvis and "lots of flesh" were discovered. Half of the individual's body parts have been recovered.

A senior source told the Herald: "We have no hands, we have no head. This man was mutilated. Obviously this means that we have no dental records and no finger prints to go on. More than likely this unfortunate man was a foreign national who was killed a number of weeks ago."

Gardai under the command of Det Insp Colm O'Malley are expected to launch a public appeal for information.

On Thursday evening of last week, a worker at Thorntons discovered a leg at the recycling plant in Killeen Road. Gardai were called to the scene, along with a doctor who confirmed the limb as being human.

gender

More body parts were found during detailed searches that ended last Monday.

The gender was determined by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis who carried out a DNA analysis at Tallaght hospital. Gardai do not yet know the race, nationality, age or cause of death.

hnews@herald.ie

Irish Independent