POLICE bowed their heads in respect as the body of an unidentified woman whose remains exhumed from a North Yorkshire cemetery were reinterred.

North Yorkshire Police’s Force Chaplain, Rev Simon Rudkin, led a short service before the coffin of the woman, who became known as the Sutton Bank Body, was lowered back into the ground yesterday.

Officers from North Yorkshire Police laid a wreath at the grave in Malton Cemetery which is marked only by a number and still awaits a headstone.

It was midnight on Monday when police staff started the exhumation in the hope that advances in DNA profiling will finally lead to a breakthrough in the 30-year mystery of the woman’s identity. Her body was found beside a quiet road in the North York Moors National Park in August 1981 after an anonymous tip-off.

The remains were taken to a mortuary where samples were taken from the femur and the ankle bone. These have now been sent to the Forensic Science Service at Wetherby for analysis to obtain a DNA profile.

The woman’s body is thought to have lain undisturbed for up to two years before she was discovered. North Yorkshire Police suspect she was murdered, but say confirming her identity is crucial to their investigation.

Since re-opening the investigation into the death – one of eight cold cases North Yortkshire Police are looking into – detectives have revealed five families from across the North of England have come forward to say they could be related to her.

Det Supt Raw said it could be up to a month before police are able to compare the forensic evidence, which could spark a murder inquiry, with the national DNA database. The woman’s profile may also be compared with DNA samples provided by the families who have contacted police.

Det Supt Raw said: “The exhumation and examination of the remains went ahead as planned and we hope the results will lead us to the identification of the woman and subsequently, any criminal offences which led to her death.

“North Yorkshire Police would like to thank everyone who was involved in ensuring the operation went ahead efficiently and with dignity, in particular, the families of the deceased who are buried in the cemetery and the residents of Malton who showed support and respect for this sensitive operation.”

Det Supt Raw has also re-appealed to an anonymous male caller, whose tip-off in 1981 led police to the woman’s body, to get in touch.