Advertisement

Remains of Australian outlaw identified

MELBOURNE, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- The remains of notorious 19th century Australian outlaw Ned Kelly, executed in 1880, have been identified in a mass grave of prisoners, authorities said.

Doctors and scientists at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine have identified the infamous outlaw's remains, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Thursday.

Advertisement

His body had been put into a wooden box and thrown into a mass grave with the corpses of other prisoners after his hanging at the Old Melbourne Gaol.

The bodies were transferred to Pentridge Prison in 1929 and then exhumed again in 2009, officials said.

Forensic scientists say they confirmed the identification using a DNA sample from Melbourne schoolteacher Leigh Olver, the great grandson of Kelly's sister Ellen.

Latest Headlines