An urban explorer who discovered the remains of a missing council worker in an abandoned warehouse told of the moment human bones fell out of a box.
James Fenton had ventured inside Whitehall Industrial Estate, in West Lothian, on September 27, 2020, when he made the grim discovery.
Initially the remains couldn’t be identified until a police facial reconstruction confirmed they belonged to 60-year-old Ean Coutts, who had gone missing a year earlier.
James told how his stomach dropped when he realised the mummified remains were human.
“I just saw white, dull, bony kind of material,” he said. “I kicked one of the boxes off and that’s when I saw the skull, the ribcage and the foot coming up the side of the wall.
“At first I couldn’t get myself round believing what it actually was until I saw mummified skin at the back of the neck and on the back of the foot.”
“It’s the last thing you would think anyone would discover. It’s scary to think how long he’d been lying there – nobody noticed for so long. I’m glad he’s finally been found and put to rest.”
The derelict industrial estate was reportedly abandoned years ago becoming a hot spot for fly-tipping strewn with broken furniture and fridges.
Police Scotland crime scene manager Detective Sergeant Scott Roxburgh also told the BBC: “This individual had been callously dumped. It was a pretty sad scene – certainly not where you’d want your loved one’s final resting place to be.
“Nobody had a bad word to say about Ean. He was generally known for being a cheery, jovial chap about the village.
“He was a man of routine – went to the same shops at the same time, on the same day of the week. He spent his money in the same pattern for a number of years – it was quite clear to police that after September 2019 there was a complete change in that pattern of spending.”
A court later found David Barnes, 35, murdered the 60-year-old army veteran at his home on Main Street in Kinglassie in September 2019. He transported his torched body in a wheelie bin to the industrial unit nearly five miles away from his home.
The brute then committed a series of frauds and thefts by using Ean’s bank card to withdraw money from his account and apply for finance.
He was caged for 23 years at the High Court in Glasgow on December 13, 2023 for murder and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
At the time Detective Inspector Scott Roxburgh, senior investigating officer, said: “This was a series of despicable and callous acts carried out by Barnes who deliberately concealed the body to cover up what he had done, including setting it on fire, and then going on to commit a series of frauds.
“Our investigation was complex and it took a facial reconstruction for us to be in a position of being able to identify Ean. I would like to thank all officers involved as well as members of the public who assisted with our enquiries.”
The case has been documented on the BBC documentary Murder Trial: Body in the Warehouse.
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