COUNCIL contractors working at Petersfield cemetery were shocked when they unearthed a skeleton – and the discovery launched a three-day police investigation that saw forensic teams and scientists work round the clock to solve the mystery.

The drama began at about noon on May 21 when Norse South East staff, who look after the cemetery off Ramshill on behalf of East Hampshire District Council, were excavating an existing grave when they found the bones.

They were reopening the grave to place another coffin on top of one buried there; a common practice as many couples wish to be buried together.

This particular plot on the north side of the cemetery was being opened to comply with such a request from a Petersfield couple.

The first coffin had been lowered in the grave in the early 1980s. But as the workmen dug into the grave, they uncovered a complete skeleton closer to the surface than expected.

In the early 1980s graves were dug and filled in by hand. These days, a mini digger is often used.

And the contractors’ first thought was that once the original coffin had been placed in the grave, it may have been left open overnight ready for filling in the next day.

And their fear was that during the night someone had gone into the cemetery placed a body on top of the coffin, covered it with soil and left.

Their suspicions aroused, the contractors immediately alerted police.

At one point there were more than 15 officers there, and during the three-day investigation an officer with a welfare van was at the grave site 24 hours a day.

Other officers visited Cloisters café in the Square for coffee.

Three forensics tents were put up – one over the grave, one next to it as a ‘store,’ and one in the cemetery yard.

Here officers painstakingly sifted all the soil taken from the grave to make sure every bone was recovered.

But as the excavation went on it became less clear what had happened.

So the officers dug down to the depth the 1980s coffin should have been buried at – and found nothing.

Hampshire Police had also called in a forensic anthropologist to help identify the individual from the bones.

A forensic archaeologist was also brought in; forensic archaeologists often excavate and recover human remains, eliminating non-related objects as they go.

And the two experts revealed that the skeleton was the original one buried in the early 1980s in a biodegradable coffin that had completely decomposed since then.

It’s thought the coffin either hadn’t been buried deep enough, or when it disintegrated the bones had risen through the soil as it got wet and then dried out.

A police spokesman said: “Officers have carried out a thorough investigation following the discovery of human remains at Petersfield Cemetery in an unexpected context.

“The human remains were not expected at that depth.

“Police accounted for the presence of the remains and are not treating the discovery as suspicious.

“We have now confirmed they were in their rightful place and had been accidentally disturbed.”

An EHDC spokesman said: “The remains were not as deep as expected and the police were notified.

“However, an investigation showed they belonged to the person originally buried in the plot.

“A biodegradable coffin had been used that had completely decomposed.”

And the final word goes to a nearby resident: “The cemetery maintenance staff made a special trip in on Sunday and tidied up all the disturbed earth and grass.

“The cemetery is now back with the ghosts and dog walkers.”