Student death hunt

A MURDER investigation was launched last night after police identified a man whose body was found buried head-first in a wood in Scotland, writes Jason Benetto.

He was named as Craig Swann, 30, a mature student at Southampton University, who disappeared nearly a year ago. A family picking mushrooms discovered his body in a shallow grave near Loch Tummel, Tayside.

Mr Swann was last seen leaving his parents' home at Broxburn, West Lothian, on August 10 last year. His red Datsun car was seen being parked by a man and woman in their thirties in Ruchazie Road, Easterhouse, Glasgow, later the same day. He had been due to fly to Argentina to spend six months teaching English, followed by a similar spell in Brazil.

Police carried out an extensive missing person inquiry, interviewing more than 1,000 people and alerting Interpol. A post-mortem examination was carried out yesterday but police did not disclose how he died.