Tests reveal transsexual was killed (Guardian)
Tests reveal transsexual was killedBy Sarah Hall The killer of a transsexual whose naked body was found wrapped in chains on a Suffolk beach last month attached too few weights to his victim to prevent him being washed ashore, police said yesterday. The body of Bryan Hooley, 28, who had a sex change operation in 1994 to become a woman, was dumped in the sea with three 2.5kg gym weights padlocked to it. But it resurfaced within days at Kessingland, near Lowestoft in Suffolk. Detectives believe that Mr Hooley, from Roxwell, Essex, was probably killed by someone he knew, who then used what was to hand to weigh his body down. Until yesterday, police were unsure whether they were investigating a murder or a suicide. They were puzzled by bruising to Mr Hooley’s face and head, but the divorced father-of-one had told neighbours he was unhappy with his sex change and he had recently lost his job. A second postmortem revealed that his injuries had not been caused by the weights or another object hitting him in the water. Instead, he had been hit at least once by a flat object and had been dead for several hours before his body was either dumped from a boat, or hauled into the sea. Detectives believe Mr Hooley may have been dumped in the sea at Covehithe, a beach four miles south of Kessingland, after a bodybuilder’s weight, identical to the three padlocked to his body, was found there a week ago. They think the killer may have been a bodybuilder. Copyright © Guardian Media Group PLC 2000 |
