The torso within the Thames thriller: How voodoo homicide that noticed boy, 5, decapitated and dumped within the river stays unsolved 25 years later as police urge witnesses to return ahead

The longest unsolved child murder case in modern UK history could still be answered because ‘someone out there knows what happened’, a retired detective has said.

‘Adam’ was a name given by Scotland Yard to a young boy whose dismembered body was discovered floating in the River Thames in London on September 21, 2001.

The child’s identity remains unknown 25 years later with no one ever charged despite an investigation that took police to South Africa, Holland, Germany and Nigeria.

Adam, who is thought to have been a Nigerian boy aged five or six, is believed to have been trafficked to the UK via Germany then murdered in a ritualistic killing.

His body, which had the head and limbs severed, was discovered near the Globe Theatre and numerous high-profile appeals followed, including by then President of South Africa Nelson Mandela.

Now, a new Channel 5 documentary called ‘The Body in The River’ which airs next Thursday has re-examined the heartbreaking and disturbing story of Adam.

Despite a series of people being arrested, there has never been a charge over his murder – but police still believe the evidence they need is somewhere in London.

Andy Baker, a former Metropolitan Police commander who worked on the investigation, has told the programme that the case could still be solved.

He said: ‘When you think what that child went through, someone out there knows what happened. Whether that’s the murderer himself or those involved in the murder. There must be a crime scene somewhere. And it’s in London.

‘There must be a place where Adam was laid upside down, tilted, head down, and then brutally dismembered and had his throat cut in such a violent way.

‘There will still be traces of blood at that premises, so even now I’d appeal to anyone who knows anything. If they know where it is, we can go and get that forensic evidence. And then it starts again.’

The boy’s body was discovered by a passing businessman called Aidan Minter who spotted it while walking across Tower Bridge just ten days after the 9/11 attacks.

He initially thought it was a tailor’s mannequin, but realised it was a child’s dismembered and decapitated torso – and police pulled this from the water.

Investigations found the black boy could have been in the water for up to ten days after having his throat slit. His arms, legs and head were all amputated.

Police had few clues on his identity, other than a pair of orange shorts he was wearing – but appealed to the public for help, including on Crimewatch.

Some 60 people called the BBC show in an attempt to help and detectives offered a reward of £50,000 for information that led to a murder conviction.

Police also took specialist pathologist advice from as far afield as Africa and carried out groundbreaking work on DNA and pollen samples inside the body.

Officers established that the boy had been drugged with a ‘black magic’ potion and sacrificed in a voodoo-style ritual killing before being thrown into the Thames.

They used pioneering techniques to trace radioactive isotopes in his bones to his native Nigeria – and even asked Mandela to appeal for information, which he did.

But they always struggled to identify the boy, despite travelling to Nigeria to try to trace his family. Detailed analysis of a substance in the boy’s stomach was identified as a potion which included tiny clay pellets containing small particles of pure gold.

This indicated that Adam had suffered a Muti ritual killing, when a victim’s body parts are removed and used by witchdoctors as ‘medicine’ based on a belief that the body parts of children are sacred. The bodies are then often disposed of in flowing water.

Another theory was he was a human sacrifice linked to Yoruban beliefs in Nigeria, in an offering to the goddess Oshun – typically associated with water and fertility.

Police had a breakthrough in July 2002 when social workers in Glasgow were alerted to the safety of two girls living with their African mother Joyce Osagiede.

She had ritualistic objects in her home and spoke about cults, killings and of sacrifices during a family court hearing – which led to police searching her property.

Detectives found clothes with the ‘Kids & Company’ label – the same one as on Adam’s shorts – and in the same sizes as his clothing. Osagiede was then arrested.

Officers never charged her, but by December that year police had determined his birthplace to a strip of land around Benin City in Nigeria – Osagiede’s home city.

German police discovered she had lived in Hamburg until late 2001 – the city where the orange shorts found on Adam’s body were believed to have been purchased.

Osagiede was eventually deported after the Home Office rejected her asylum application but disappeared after arriving in Lagos on a chartered private jet.

Officers found she had a contact in her phone for a man called Mousa Kamara, and discovered evidence of Nigerian rituals known as Juju at his London home.

Kamara, whose real name turned out to be Kingsley Ojo, was arrested but released on bail because there was no evidence directly linking him to Adam’s murder.

Police did however charge Ojo with people smuggling and using fake documents to obtain a passport and driving licence. He pleaded guilty and was jailed for four years.

While in prison, Ojo contacted police and said he wanted to help track down the killer, feeding them information for two years following his release. But officers eventually determined they could not rely on him, and he was deported back to Nigeria in 2008.

By 2011, another lead came when police searched through Osagiede’s belongings left with a friend in Germany and found a photo of a boy aged about five taken in 2001.

ITV News tracked down Osagiede in Nigeria, and she claimed Adam was the boy in the photo – and his real name was Ikpomwosa. She said she looked after him then gave him to a man called Bawa. But detectives could not positively identify the boy.

One year later, Osagiede’s brother Victor contacted BBC News and said the boy in the photo was in fact not Adam or ‘Ikpomwosa’. A reporter travelled to Benin City and found Osagiede, but she appeared confused and gave two other names for Adam.

Osagiede also identified someone in photo as ‘Bawa’ – which was actually a picture of Ojo. The BBC then tracked down Ojo in Nigeria but he continued to deny involvement in Adam’s murder and no evidence has ever linked him to the crime.

Since 2013 the investigation has become a ‘cold case’ with no significant new lines of enquiry – and Victor confirmed in 2020 that Osagiede had died in Nigeria.

Police launched an appeal on the 20th anniversary, with Detective Chief Inspector Kate Kieran saying the case remaining unsolved was ‘incredibly sad and frustrating’.

Speaking in 2021, she added: ‘We recognise people may not have wanted to speak up at the time and may have felt loyal to the person or people involved in this.

‘However, over the past 20 years, allegiances and relationships may have changed and some people may now feel more comfortable talking to us.’

The case has remained unsolved since then, but Scotland Yard will be hoping that the documentary could change this. The Daily Mail has contacted the force for comment.

‘The Body In The Thames’ will air on Channel 5 on Thursday at 10pm