Human skull dredged up off South Mainland

An investigation is under way to identify human remains dredged up by a fishing boat as she was working west of the South Mainland last week.

Crew onboard the shellfish dredger Kestrel found part of a skull as they fished for scallops near South Havra on Wednesday.
Skipper Gary Leask quickly contacted the coastguard service in Lerwick which, in turn, got in touch with the police.

Officers were on hand to collect the remains when the Kestrel came to berth at Scalloway soon afterwards. They were found not far from where kayaker Kester Wigram went missing last April.

The New Zealander, who lived in Lerwick, was last seen carrying his kayak towards St Ninian’s Isle, three miles south of Havra. A major search and rescue operation was quickly swung into action, but no trace of Mr Wigram was ever found.