‘Human bones’ garden find was toy pirate skeleton with parrot

A pile of “human bones” reported to police by a concerned member of the public turned out to be a toy plastic pirate skeleton – complete with parrot and a hook for a hand.

Derbyshire Police officers from Long Eaton safer neighbourhood team (SNT) posted an image of the find on their Facebook page on Wednesday, describing it as a “toy model”.

Explaining the circumstances, the police said: “Officers from Long Eaton SNT were called to a suspicious incident today following a report that human bones had been found.

“Thankfully our brave officer managed to get close enough to discover it was just a toy model of Captain Hook and his pet parrot.

“It’s always better to be safe than sorry and report any suspicious incident.”

Derbyshire Police, in a further statement, said: “The force was called by a concerned member of the public who reported they had found what appeared to be a human skeleton in a bush in their garden.

“Due to the nature of what had been called into the force, an officer attended the home, where it was found that the skeleton was in fact a plastic toy pirate skeleton.

“The call was made in good faith and officers left the toy to be disposed of by the homeowner.”