BRITAIN: Efforts to identify a boy whose body was found naked and burnt in a London park were continuing yesterday as detectives prepared to release a computerised image of the boy.
The Asian boy's body, which was beaten and burnt beyond recognition, was discovered lying face down at the foot of a tree by a man walking through Roe Green Park, in Kingsbury, on Tuesday.
Detectives hope that by next week they will have gathered enough information about the boy, aged between 12 and 16, to release the computer-enhanced image.
The murderer, or murderers, poured some kind of accelerant over the boy's body and set him alight, possibly before he died and police do not believe he was bound or gagged. The boy died from serious head injuries but no murder weapon was found at the scene and police think he was killed where he was found.
It emerged yesterday that the murder investigation is looking at CCTV footage from local garages, including one showing a man buying a petrol can.
Mr Mohammed Samsudeen, who works at a Total petrol station less than half a mile from the park, said a man in his 50s who behaved strangely had come into the shop on Monday and bought a full can of petrol. Police took away the CCTV footage earlier this week.
"He came in and went straight for the petrol can. He didn't ask how much it was or anything," Mr Samsudeen said. "Then he went outside and filled it up with five litres, came back in and paid. He didn't say anything to me and he seemed in a hurry, not happy about something."
One of the most puzzling aspects of the case is that no one has come forward to identify the boy, despite a country-wide appeal for information.
Police searched the Missing Persons Bureau database but found no matching information about the boy and are now checking with schools in the area, including the five schools close to the park, to establish whether any pupils have been reported missing.
Race relations in the area are said to be excellent and locals are "extremely disturbed" by the murder. As police continued house-to-house inquiries, community leader, Mr Deeva Samaroo, said the boy's murder had shaken local confidence.
"From my telephone calls to other community leaders they are also getting extremely worried that no one has yet come forward to identify the child."