'I'm pleased I found severed head'

By Malcolm Prior
BBC News Online, Basingstoke

Vic and Marley at the scene of the discovery

The idea of discovering a severed human head dumped in a bush is the stuff of nightmares.

For grandfather-of-two Vic Mansi it became a horrific reality.

But, reflecting on the moment that started the investigation into the gruesome death of Tristian Lovelock, Mr Mansi declares he is glad it happened to him.

Mr Mansi, 67, who lives on the Hampshire estate where Richard Markham murdered Mr Lovelock and dismembered his body, told BBC News Online: "I was pleased it was me and not a child.

I saw something on the floor and thought it was an injured animal...

Vic Mansi

"It's a play area there and a proper children's play area is just 50 yards from that.

"Any child kicking a ball into the shrubs would have been quite traumatised, I would have thought.

"I was in the RAF for 12 years, as a fireman, and we saw some very nasty sights.

"As an ex-serviceman, I can take that in my stride."

The park around which the body parts were found

It was on Friday 31 May, 2002, that Mr Mansi - who has lived on the estate for 30 years - and his dog, Marley, made the chance find in Russell Howard park, in the South Ham district of Basingstoke.

After that limbs were discovered around the area - including in a resident's garden - and a major murder investigation was launched.

That came to an end on Wednesday when Richard Markham, 28, of St Nicholas Court, South Ham, was convicted of murdering Mr Lovelock.

Mr Mansi's limited but crucial role in the uncovering of the killing is one he can remember with clarity.

Mr Lovelock's body was dismembered

The part-time post room worker, who had cycled home past the bloodstains outside Markham's home without realising what they were, recalled: "I came home from work at around noon. That's the end of my day and every day I take the dog for a walk.

"It's a normal dog-walking area over there but on that day he was most intrigued by the shrubs. He was very anxious to get to them.

"Seeing as there was one particular area he was most interested in I tugged him back and pulled the hedge aside.

"I saw something on the floor and thought it was an injured animal but when I pulled the hedge further back I realised that it was a human head.

Even our own grandchildren came down and the first thing they said was can you show us where the head was

Ruth Mansi

"It might sound stupid but it was not what I expected to see.

"I thought 'Am I seeing what I think I am?'

"I called over to a neighbour and said I think I have seen something in the hedge, would you verify what it is.

"He pulled the hedge apart and said 'Oh my God'.

"We then phoned the police and within 15 minutes they were here.

"They realised what they were looking at and the place was cordoned off and it all took off from there.

"The finding of the head started the whole thing in motion."

People still ask the Mansis about the find

Mr Mansi, who knew neither Markham or Mr Lovelock, maintains the discovery has not unsettled him and he does not prey on it.

But his wife, Ruth, 68, says others still take a macabre interest in it.

She said: "Even now there is a certain amount of curiosity about Vic.

"People ask: 'How do you feel Vic? Do you dream about it?'

"Even our own grandchildren came down and the first thing they said was can you show us where the head was."