Police in the U.K. say they’re stumped after a year-long investigation into a loose human finger bone, which somehow wound up in a pair of socks sold by retailer Primark last December.
Essex police announced on Friday that they’ve investigated as far as was “reasonably and proportionately possible” but still can’t point to any one explanation in the case. The only bit of information they offered was perhaps even more baffling.
“At this time it is not linked to a criminal act,” a police spokeswoman told BBC News. “It did not appear to be a result of recent trauma and had no skin or other particles surrounding it.”
Police spent a year looking into the matter after a Primark customer flagged the discovery on Jan. 2. The customer found the bone surprise on Dec. 10, 2018, after buying a pair of socks from a Primark in Colchester. Police later declared that it was likely a bone from a human finger.
“It is a possibility it was placed in the sock in its country of origin, but this cannot be confirmed,” the police spokesperson said.
Primark said at the time that it took the matter “very seriously” and that it would co-operate with the investigation. The company now says it considers the matter closed.
“It is highly probable that the object was placed in the socks by an individual for unknown reasons,” Primark said in a statement to the Guardian.
“Primark has been the subject of isolated incidents in the past, which have subsequently been found to have been hoaxes,” the company added.
Primark said it looked into the matter at the overseas factory where the socks were made but found no evidence of an incident there.
“Following our own and the police investigation, we consider the matter closed.”
Police say they’ll still welcome any new information in the case — especially if it can point them to the owner of the missing finger bone.