DJ Derek: Police 'strongly believe' human remains found in woodlands are of missing pensioner

DJ Derek vanished on his way home from a pub in Bristol eight months ago

DJ Derek

The mystery of what happened to Britain’s oldest DJ after he vanished following a night out last year appears to have been solved after human remains were found in woodland near his home.

Derek Serpell-Morris, better known as DJ Derek, disappeared shortly after leaving The Criterion pub in Bristol in the early hours of 11 July. He was reported missing two weeks later by family who launched a huge campaign to try and find him.

Police said although the remains were yet to be formally identified, personal possessions found at the scene strongly suggested they were of the missing pensioner. A member of the public made the discovery, near Cribbs Causeway shopping centre in the north of the city, on Thursday afternoon.

Detective Chief Inspector Matthew Iddon, of Avon and Somerset Police, said: “This is a very distressing time for Derek’s family who’ve been carrying out an exhaustive campaign to locate him and raise awareness of his disappearance and our thoughts are very much with them.”

The death is being treated as unexplained and a post-mortem examination will be carried out by a Home Office pathologist to establish the cause of death.

Mr Serpell-Morris became a local legend in Bristol, playing hundreds of sets at bars and clubs over the years, including Glastonbury, with his blend of 60s rocksteady, reggae, ska, dancehall and soul music. He collaborated with Massive Attack and appeared in Dizzee Rascal’s hit music video Dirtee Disco in 2010.

The family’s search had focused on Thornbury, eight miles north of where the remains were found, as the DJ’s bus pass was last used on July 11 – the day after he was last seen – to board a bus in that direction.

The 73-year-old’s grand-niece Jennifer Griffiths said: “In a way it would be closure for us if this was Derek but at the same time it would be awful; it would be the worst-case scenario. He used to get the bus to Cribbs Causeway all the time and we always felt that he could have ended up around that area.

“It just feels that we wasted all that time looking in the wrong places when he was there all the time. We are waiting to hear from the police. We are just waiting for that phone call. It just feels awful, we are all sitting here expecting the worst.”