Man accused of digging up bodies from cemeteries ‘told police he likes to eat them’

Hungarian police have arrested a man who investigators say collected human body parts that he'd gathered from abandoned cemeteries and from his workplace at a hospital.Hungary's National Bureau of Investigation arrested the 30-year-old man in the capital, Budapest, on 17 June.They had earlier received a tip-off that he had been storing the body parts at work and at home.

Police said in a statement on Tuesday that the man is employed as an orderly at a hospital.During a search of the man's apartment, investigators seized skulls, a complete lower leg and a hand, as well as a reconstruction of a human face prepared from facial skin. Other bones were found stored in a suitcase.

A heart in a jar was also found. Police were still trying to determine whether it was of human or animal origin.open image in galleryThe man was arrested by police in Budapest (Getty/iStock)The man, who admitted during questioning to collecting the body parts, said that he was particularly attracted to human body parts, and that he had prepared food from such parts and eaten them, police said.

He is being held on suspicion of illegal use of human bodies.In their statement, police said the man is “passionate about anatomy and pathology, and likes to dissect animals”. They said it is suspected that he obtained the body parts through his work at a hospital and by digging up bodies “in abandoned cemeteries in Slovakia and Hungary”.

Police seized the man’s computer, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, SIM and data cards. All of the recovered body parts will be examined by forensic experts, police said, adding that the range of alleged crimes could expand after the origin of all the body parts is determined.