DNA tests on kin of Elephant Man

By CAHAL MILMO in LONDON

Scientists have traced one of the nearest living relatives of the "Elephant Man" in an attempt to try to solve the 112-year-old mystery of what caused his disfigurements.

Despite retaining the skeleton of Joseph Merrick, whose deformed face led to him being exhibited as a Victorian circus freak, doctors have never been able to explain his symptoms.

Now researchers hope to find the answers after tracking down Pat Selby, whose grandfather was Merrick's uncle and who still lives in his home town of Leicester.

Using the latest genetic techniques, experts are to study Selby's DNA to try to diagnose the condition which caused Merrick's skull to grow until its circumference was greater than his waist.

It has long been believed that the growth was caused by Proteus Syndrome, first diagnosed in 1979, which can cause gigantism, or disproportionate growth of bone and tissue.

Malcolm Hall, who is among the researchers from New Zealand making the study, said other diagnoses had been wrong.

Organisers of the project, which is to feature in a documentary next year, made contact with Selby after it made an appeal in Leicester to find relatives of Merrick's mother. Researchers discovered that Selby, in her 70s, was the granddaughter of Catherine and George Potterton. George, who lived in Leicester in 1901, was Merrick's uncle.

His great-niece, who heard about the search through her local history society, said she was unaware of her link with Merrick.

Born in 1862, Merrick suffered a series of deformities during his childhood, including a swelling of the lips which created a 8cm "trunk".

He was rescued from a travelling circus show by Sir Frederick Treves, a surgeon from the Royal London Hospital in the East End, where he lived until his death at the age of 28. His body tissues and organs were dissected and preserved in formaldehyde, but were destroyed in the Blitz. The story of his life was made into a film starring John Hurt.

This year, some relations called for the return of his skeleton from the Royal London Hospital for burial and refused to take part in the documentary.

Ray Merrick, whose great-grandfather was also an uncle of Joseph Merrick, said this month: "I am not interested in whether he had Proteus Syndrome or not. It is enough that he had to go through life like that. It must have been dreadful."

- INDEPENDENT