Murder hunt after body is found in park

Oct 5 2007 By Adam Smith, Birmingham Mail

A SENIOR police chief has allocated "massive police resources" to solve the murder of a man whose body was found in a Birmingham park.

Sutton Coldfield Chief Supt Russell Smith has drafted a team of 40 detectives to probe the killing of the man who was discovered in Finchley Park.

A passer-by walking his dog made the grim discovery at 8am yesterday.

The body of the man, in his late 20s or early 30s, was found about 20 metres inside the park from the Kings Road entrance. He had suffered head and face injuries.

A post-mortem examination was expected to be carried out later today to confirm the cause of death.

It is understood police have identified the man, but he has not yet been named.

More than 20 uniformed officers combed the undergrowth and lawns in the Kingstanding park for clues.

Detectives were today trawling through hours of CCTV coverage from roads surrounding the scene.

The Major Investigations Unit have also been drafted in, with Det Supt Mick Treble and Det Chief Insp Steve Bimson co-ordinating the enquiry.

Chief Supt Smith said: "We are p utting massive manpower resources into solving this crime and we will be following up all leads of inquiry.

"The Sutton Coldfield division is providing the lion's share of the manpower for this investigation but we are also drafting in help from across the force."

He added: "This is a very unusual crime for this area and these things really do not happen very often.

"This is a low crime area and I know it must be very shocking for the community for this to happen in Finchley Park."

Anyone with information can ring the 0845 113 5000 and ask for detectives at Sutton Police Station or Crimestoppers 0800 555 111 in confidence.