A SKULL initially thought to be that of notorious outlaw Ned Kelly is likely to belong to a brutal mass murderer who once lived in Rainhill, say scientists.

After extensive forensic tests, experts have ruled out the skull being Ned Kelly’s, They believe it is probably that of Frederick Deeming, who murdered his wife and four children, burying them in the cellar of their Rainhill house.

After fleeing to Australia, Deeming murdered his second wife Emily Mather (the daughter of a Rainhill newsagent), in 1891 in Melbourne.

It was this killing that alerted the authorities back in Britain to his crimes in St Helens. At one stage Deeming was even under suspicion as being Jack the Ripper.

He was hanged in 1892 - 12 years after Ned Kelly and their bodies were buried next to each other in Old Melbourne Gaol.

In January the Star told how scientists were appealing for any of Deeming’s relatives, who may still be in the St Helens area, to offer DNA samples, which they could match against the skull.

Initially scientists could not determine whose it was, but following a two year investigation by the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, they concluded that it wasn’t Ned’s head, through DNA evidence, archival records and medical history.