MORE human bones have been unearthed at a rubbish dump near York where human remains were found last week, police revealed today.

A digger operator made the original grim discovery of a variety of human bones on Thursday while carrying out drainage work at the Towthorpe Civic Amenity Site, in Strensall.

The area was declared a crime scene and specialist police search teams and forensic and pathology experts were drafted in to scour the site.

It is during these investigations that more bones were unearthed.

Some of the bones discovered at the site were today being examined by a pathologist.

It has not yet been revealed whether the bones are male or female or whether they belong to more than one person.

Det Chief Insp Javad Ali, who is head of CID for the York and Selby area, is likely to oversee the inquiry into the gruesome find. He said: "The search is an immense task and is set to continue at the site over the next couple of days. We are still recovering some bones and we are working with forensic and pathology experts. Our main priority at the moment is to search the site."

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said the bones were being examined by a pathologist today, and added: "Until that examination has taken place, we are not in a position to comment further."

Updated: 15:46 Tuesday, April 02, 2002