The Mysterious Case of Fred the Head

Trying to find the identity of the man at the bar, I stumble upon something unforeseen that casts a new light on the early stages of the police investigation that may have fascinating implications.

I finally get to speak to someone I’d been trying to speak to for a few months – and something they say stops me in my tracks. Something that links a living person in 1969 with the body found in 1971.

We receive a second anonymous letter, but are things exactly what they appear to be? We dig deeper into who was living on the Level and at Frank Kun’s old addresses which yields another mystery, and I have a fascinating conversation with someone who worked on Bass’s Meadow in the 1960s, which makes me think more about what might have been going on there.

I try and retrace the car journey to identify exactly where the young man was dropped off. We discover the final pieces of the Mr Czenner story and uncover another address I really need to investigate

In a longer than usual episode, I’m on the track of Matthew James Jackson and with the help of some great detective work from a listener, we are able to inch closer to the truth. And having spoken to one of Zoe’s old school friends, another long conversation with Zoe really intrigues me.

I uncover the reason why the police believed the dentistry to be unusual, and what that tells us about the police investigation and the victim. Developing other lines of enquiry leads me back to Zoe in Australia, who shares even more intriguing memories.

I manage to find the Scenes of Crimes Officer from the time of the discovery of the body, the man who dug the body out of the ground and the first person to see the body since the murderer, and I learn some fascinating new facts. Then, things take an unexpected and intriguing turn.

A new discovery takes me on an unexpected detour, and takes me on the trail of another missing man

I needed to find the exact date of a story that appeared in the Burton Mail, as it could provide vital information. But how was I going to find three consecutive years of newspapers from 50 years ago - and what would they reveal?

I'm on the hunt for a man who vanished from Burton in 1971. But how do you find someone from 50 years ago who no one has been able to track down since?

A very good question leads to the next stage of the investigation, leading to a series of conversations which open up more and more lines of enquiry.

My most promising lead has disappeared at a critical point of the investigation and that means that my quest to find the identity of the body is at risk.

I'm on the trail of Jozsef Czenner, the man who seems to be associated with a series of strange coincidences. How exactly does he fit into the investigation?

Following the leads from the last episode, I get to work on trying to identify Joszi, the man someone had been looking for in early 1969. But then a discovery deep in the archives raises some further questions about what could have possibly happened to Joszi, and just maybe, an identity.

Sometimes, you've just got to follow the evidence wherever it leads you, and this time it led us to somebody with an amazing story to tell. And one that brings us within touching distance of identifying the victim.

Over the years a number of missing people have emerged as potentially being the victim, and more recently a potential perpetrator has also emerged. We take a deep dive in to these claims and provide an update on the current investigation.

I discover that in 2013, the University of Derby was involved in work to recreate the skull in 3D form, at the same time they ran some tests that gave clear indications on possible nationality of the skull. I interview the project leader, it leads to an idea that, if true, might just bring us very close indeed to exactly who Fred the Head really is.

When we are trying to solve a 50-year-old cold case and I read in the local paper the headline "Man claims to speak to Fred the Head from beyond the grave", that's just too good an opportunity to miss. We interview him and this is that interview. Interesting......

From what we have already discovered, I try and piece together the simplest explanation to the five most basic questions: When?, How?, Who?, Why? and Where? I'm joined in the process by Andy Hough, former Head of Serious Crimes, and together we take a deep dive into the options. The process certainly moves things forward in my mind, and just maybe, we make a minor discovery about the date the murder took place.

As news of the discovery of a dead body spreads through Burton like wildfire, the police start their investigations. Some unique aspects of the body give cause for optimism that the identity will soon be solved.

Fifty years ago, on March 26th 1971, the body of a young man was found in a secluded spot, an island in the River Trent with extremely limited access. He was buried in a kneeling position, naked, except for socks and a wedding ring. His hands and ankles had been bound. In Episode2, we examine the circumstances of how the body was found by talking to the man who made the gruesome discovery all those years ago.

They say that in the case of a mysterious death, the first 48 hours are critical. If investigators don't make a breakthrough in that time, the chances of it being solved are greatly diminished. But what if they don't get a breakthrough in the first 48 hours, or the first 48 days. What if they don't get a breakthrough in 48 years? On March 26th 1971, the body of a young man was found in a secluded spot, an island in the River Trent in the UK with extremely limited access. He was buried in a kneeling position, naked except for socks and a wedding ring. His hands and ankles had been bound. So began one of the UK’s most baffling murder mysteries, a grisly crime that has remained unsolved to this day. 50 years ago police had no idea who he was, how he died and how he came to be buried. Today, they still don’t. In the absence of an identification, he was given a name. Because his skull was retained by police, he became known as “Fred the Head” To mark the 50th anniversary of his discovery, a new podcast series. “The Mysterious Case of Fred the Head” has been released which takes a deep dive into the strange nature of this unsolved crime.