News

Police and sociologists met at the European Police Office (Europol) headquarters in the Hague earlier this month to share intelligence on a number of killings across Europe that appear to have been ritualistic in nature.

These include the "Adam" case where the dismembered torso of a boy of about five was found in the River Thames in London last September (News, page 12, 21 February).

At the Europol conference, Metropolitan police officers compared notes with their counterparts from other countries where ritualistic murder has been suspected including Germany, Italy, Belgium, France and Sweden.

The conference heard that human sacrifices have declined markedly in Africa in recent years but there have been a number of suspected cases in Europe.

The meeting allowed the experts to compare notes on investigative techniques to combat ritualistic crime, child trafficking from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe and forensic opportunities to identify where individuals originate from.