Police officers from across the country have been drafted inOlivier Vergnault and Lottie Gibbons Executive editor SEO and engagement
16:12, 25 Jul 2025Updated 17:17, 25 Jul 2025
Cornwall’s crime commissioner has confirmed that multiple bodies have been found in the woodlands (Image: Olivier Vergnault / Cornwall Live)
Multiple bodies have been found in woodlands where police in Cornwall are investigating an alleged murder. Police officers from across the country have been drafted in to help scour the woodland outside the village of Sticker.
It’s understood the investigation – which also involves private security staff and a drone ban – involves a number of bodies.
Cornwall’s police and crime commissioner Alison Hernandez said local police, along with special units from the National Crime Agency and officers from around the UK, have been searching for the remains of multiple people.
Searches in Paramoor Woods, just off the A390 between St Austell and Truro, have been ongoing for three weeks. Det Supt Jon Bancroft said it was an ‘extremely complex and unique investigation with experts working methodically across a large and challenging area of woodland’, adding that their ‘enquiries are progressing with diligence and a significant police presence is expected to remain at the scene into the coming weeks’.
The search followed the arrest of one man in connection with the murder of Daniel Coleman, from St Austell, who had been reported missing since June 1. He is alleged to have been killed between June 2 and July 7, reports Cornwall Live.
Today Ms Hernandez told the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel that the search was so big and necessitated so many officers because ‘we’ve found dead bodies’.
After being asked for an update on the investigation, Ms Hernandez replied: “Some of the elements of that operation I can’t speak about but some of the things are very obvious. As you know there is a large crime scene that has been identified in Cornwall that is requiring a lot of effort to even scene guard the area.
“The level of expertise, some of the mutual aid we’ve brought in, is expertise in specific types of investigations that we didn’t have. The National Crime Agency is supporting the organisation at the moment.
“I want to thank all the other forces that are coming in at a very busy time for themselves to offer mutual aid. It’s largely investigative mutual aid that we’ve brought in. Until some of those elements have been established of exactly what we’re dealing with there, it will be made public at that time.
“I know there’s been some information in the media. We’ve got a huge forensic tent down there. Lots of forensics officers, obviously we’ve found dead bodies in that wood.
“We’re just trying to establish how many there may be at this point in time and whether we are aware of who they are or what might have happened to them. So we also don’t know how long they may have been there, some of them.”