"SAMPLES" unearthed in the search for murder suspect James Brodie are being examined by police.
Police last night confirmed they were unsure what the samples could be.
They began searching a Lincolnshire farm for Brodie on Monday, February 4.
He has been hunted by police since the murder of jeweller Marian Bates in a botched robbery at the Time Centre, Arnold, in September 2003.
He has not made contact with family or friends or been seen since that time.
Last week, police confirmed for the first time they believe he was murdered.
But they didn't find a body in their search at Maize Farm in East Heckington. However it has been revealed that suspicious samples – which the Post understands are not bones -– were recovered from land at the farm.
A force spokesman said last night: "We have sent a number of samples from the site for further tests. We don't know what they are."
When asked how long the tests normally take, the spokesman replied: "I don't know. It's science."
It had been reported elsewhere that what was found could have been "remains" and "could be human".
The revelation was made as Dean Betton, 32, of Raleigh Street, Radford, appeared in Lincoln Crown Court via video link to be charged with murdering Brodie.
He had his first hearing at Lincoln Crown Court on Monday and was remanded in custody until April 29.
Betton was arrested last Wednesday, along with a 31-year-old man, who has since been released on bail pending further inquiries.
Grandmother Marian Bates, 64, was shot in front of her husband Victor and their daughter Xanthe.
Peter Williams, 19, was jailed for 22 years after being convicted of murder. In legal submissions, the judge heard Williams told police that Bestwood crime boss Colin Gunn was behind the raid.
The court heard that Williams took part in the robbery but that an accomplice – believed to be Brodie – fired the fatal shot.
Last week's search wasn't the first time police had searched for Brodie's body.
Notts detectives have travelled to Glasgow, searched a fish farm in Leicestershire, land near Flintham, near Newark, and flats in Top Valley and Bulwell over the years.
But they are understood not to have searched any other locations since 2007.
Gunn is in jail for plotting the murders of innocent Lincolnshire couple John and Joan Stirland in Trusthorpe, Lincolnshire, in 2004.
