A 17-year-old has been charged after a skull was discovered in a garden by a four-year-old and his friend in Aberdeen.
Police were called to Heathryfold Place after two youngsters made the discovery.
The skull, which was in a plastic bag, is believed to have been stolen from a city church on Wednesday.
Investigators worked at the Heathryfold scene for five hours after the macabre discovery was made.
Tegan Mayall, 25, told The Press and Journal that her son Noah, aged four, along with her neighbour’s daughter found the skull.
The support worker said: “They both ran over to the side of the garden and grabbed this bag and we weren’t sure what was in it, so me and her mum tipped the bag out to see what it was.
“The kids were messing about with it because they thought it was a Halloween decoration, because that’s what it looked like.”
Police were called to the property on Wednesday afternoon and ordered everyone to go inside the flats in Heathryfold, with no one allowed to enter or exit the building.
Mrs Mayall said the skull “looked real”, with teeth being visible.
She said her seven-year-old daughter Myleigh has been “traumatised” by the experience, and unable to sleep.
The youngster said she saw the skull in the flat’s entry way when returning home from school and heard police discussing if it was “real or not”.
‘Not what you expect to find’
Her mum described the find as a “big shock” and said: “It’s normally a quiet building and everyone goes out and it’s not what you expect to find in a garden.”
A police spokeswoman said: “Following theft from a church in Union Street, Aberdeen, a 17-year-old man was arrested and charged on Wednesday May 3.
“A report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.”