Fred the Head

Fred the Head is the popular name of an unidentified young white adult male found – deceased, naked, and bound – on the site of an abandoned flint mill in Burton upon Trent, England, in 1971.

[3][2] The site lay on an island on the River Trent accessible only by a footbridge off Newton Road, barred by a locked gate, or via a long, narrow and unpaved track from Burton Bridge.

[4][3] Nathan had accessed the site through the locked gate which was considered secure enough for the police to rule it out as a potential route used by any suspect.

[4][2] Nathan discovered a fragment of a human skull after he tripped over what he assumed was a bag of cement but was a mound of earth covering a grave.

[7][8] Despite a three-year investigation Staffordshire Police were unable to identify the man who became known as "Fred the Head" as the skull was the first part of the body to be unearthed.

[4] Following another Crimewatch feature on 27 June 2017 that included a facial reconstruction of "Fred", the family of John Henry Jones raised his case as a potential candidate.

[3] In 2021, police investigated whether the body might be a victim of the serial killer Anthony Hardy who was born in nearby Winshill and would have been 20 at the time of its discovery.