Disturbed plumber finds pile of bones underneath customer's bathroom

Plumbers are used to encountering unsavoury items while going about their work.

But one tradesman was faced with more than just clogged pipes and black mould during a recent job.

Jonathan Bretts took to TikTok to describe the disturbing discovery he made beneath the floorboards of a client’s house.

Bretts explained that he was fixing a bathroom at a 200-year-old property in Plymouth when he found a pile of more than 20 bones.

In a brief clip posted to the platform, he showed himself rifling through rubble and explaining that he’d found “bits” that he initially believed belonged to a dead cat.

However, he then pulled out a jaw bone, with molars still intact, leading him to conclude that these may well be the remains of a person.

“Can anyone tell me if this is human or animal?” he asked in a caption to the clip, which racked up more than 1.4 million views in three weeks.

Viewers urged him to report his findings, with one stressing: “If you find bones you have to call the police, that’s the law.”

Others reassured him that they looked like animal remains, but encouraged him to get the site checked out.

Meanwhile, others shared their own, similar finds, with one writing: “We had the exact same thing in my old house, we called the police turns out my house used to be a morgue in Victorian times.”

And another said: “I remember doing a job and pulling put a bag of bones wrapped in a blanket.”

Alongside the bones, Betts later found a broken wine glass, marbles and other artefacts, as well as a second part of the unsettling jawbone, which featured a long front tooth.

After consulting some fellow tradies, and carrying out a Google search, he learned that the bones belonged to a pig, not a human.

Speaking to the news agency SWNS, the TikToker said he’d followed his customer’s wishes and re-buried the bones exactly where he’d found them.

Explaining their reasoning, he said: “Back in the day people buried [pig’s bones] to ward off bad spirits."

In an interview with the website Magnet Trade, he added: "After speaking with the owners of the home, they informed me that the house opposite used to be a pig farm and they think the barn attached to their property was, in fact, a slaughterhouse."

If his social media success is anything to go by, Betts will be dining out on this story for months.

Though, he might think twice about tucking into a pork chop any time soon.

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