Police release facial reconstruction of unidentified Stanley Park woman

Merseyside Police has been working with Face Lab at Liverpool’s John Moore’s University to produce a reconstructed image of the face of the woman whose body was found in Stanley Park.

We were contacted by a member of the public at around 5.25pm on Friday 28 August following the discovery of a black bin bag in bushes in the walled garden.

Officers attended and sadly found the body of the woman. To date we have been unable to identify her despite repeated public appeals.

Our enquiries have now established that the first confirmed sighting of the bin bags was on 13 July, six weeks before the woman’s body was recovered.

Since she was found in August detectives from our Major Incident Team have been carrying out a number of lines of enquiry including witness, CCTV and forensic work.

As part of those enquiries, we have been working closely with colleagues at Face Lab,  a LJMU research group that carries out forensic/archaeological research and consultancy work including craniofacial analysis, facial depiction and forensic art.

The Face Lab team have been able to produce an image of what we believe the woman looks like.

Today, Friday 13 November, we have released the image and would urge anyone who believes they recognise the woman to get in touch.

Detective Superintendent Rachel Wilson said: “I am grateful for the expert work that the team have done at Face Lab have done to develop this image.

“This work takes some time to complete but we believe that we have a representative image of the woman. Now we need to know who she is.

“Do you recognise her or think you have seen her prior to 13 July? Do you have any information which could assist our enquiries? Please come forward and speak to us or if you don’t want to speak to the police then contact Crimestoppers anonymously.

“It is vital that we identify this woman and get the answers as to who was responsible for her murder.”

Professor Caroline Wilkinson, who is Director at Face Lab, said: “Face Lab is a centre of excellence relating to craniofacial identification and digital heritage. The Face Lab team have created a facial depiction to inspire recognition and assist the police in the identification of this woman and the forensic investigation into her death.

“The depiction was produced using our 3D computerised facial reconstruction system following anatomical and anthropometrical standards and the final image was created using photo-editing.”

The woman is white, approximately 5ft 2in tall and of slight build and was found wearing a pink Nike T-shirt.

As part of our investigation forensic tests have been able to establish a DNA profile but there was no match on the national DNA database. She also had no teeth which means it has not been possible to compare dental records.

We have been able to establish the woman suffered from osteoporosis, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease(COPD) and arthritis in her hands. She was also malnourished although it has not been possible to establish if that was due to her age or neglect.

We have also expanded our enquiries to investigate reports of woman aged between 60 and 80.

Detective Superintendent Wilson added: “We hope that the image of the woman combined with the physical description, clothing and ailments will jog someone’s memory. If you have information please get in touch with us as a matter of urgency.”

There are several ways you can contact us with information. You can contact us on social media @MerPolCC, report information through our website at Home | Merseyside Police, or call 101 quoting reference number 26000706383.

A dedicated Public Portal has also been created, allowing people to send images or footage directly to the investigation team. A link to the portal can be found here:Public Portal

If you do not feel comfortable speaking to police directly, you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is independent of the police and does not ask for your personal details.