Werrington murder probe launched after body is found dumped in remote bushland

Homicide detectives have been called in after a woman’s body was found in bushland in Sydney’s west on Sunday afternoon.

Officers attached to Nepean Police Area Command were called to a reserve off Irwin Street at Werrington, in Sydney’s west, about 1.15pm.

The area was sealed off and forensic experts sent in to analyse the scene. 

‘A crime scene has been established and an investigation has commenced by Nepean detectives, who are being assisted by the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad,’ said a police spokesman.

‘A canvass of the area is now being conducted by local police, assisted by PolAir.’

Nepean Police Area Commander, Detective Superintendent Trent King said a number of belongings were found near the woman, who is believed to be middle aged. 

‘Other clothing items and other rubbish,’ he told a press conference on Sunday evening.

‘At this stage I’ve been informed that it was a woman. Potentially a middle-aged woman, but that’s still part of the investigation.’

A woman’s body was found at a reserve in Werrington, in west Sydney

Police have cordoned off the area and are analysing the scene

It’s believed the body belonged was a middle aged woman 

Police could not confirm how the woman died

The body was discovered by a passerby who saw the remains from a distance and called Triple Zero.

‘It’s a remote part of the reserve which backs onto sporting fields on one side and there is residential areas on the other,’ Supt. King said.

‘That’s where we will be concentrating our canvassing this afternoon and this evening to try and ascertain movements as well as anything untoward over the last period of time.’

It was unclear how long the body had been at the reserve or how she died.

‘Certainly a period of time, very difficult to ascertain at this stage. The scene is currently being examined,’ Supt. King said.

‘We’re hoping certainly in the next couple of days through both the postmortem examination as well as the examination today we will have further information.

‘Until we identify the cause of death, the death is unexplained. Certainly in this circumstance we feel it necessary to take it to the highest level (of investigation).’

Supt. King added officers from the Missing Persons Unit were combing through files to try and identify the woman.

The body was spotted in the distance by a passerby who called Triple-Zero

Officers from the Missing Persons Unit are attempting to identify the body

It was unclear how long the body had been at the reserve before being discovered

Supt. King described the reserve as a ‘remote part of the reserve which backs onto sporting fields on one side and there is residential areas on the other’

‘There’s nothing to indicate a specific person at this stage from our perspective,’ he said. 

‘However, as we speak, the missing persons unit are assisting us with anyone that is currently outstanding.’

More to come…