Human skull and thigh bone withdrawn from Angus auction

The skull, which has now been withdrawn from sale, was valued between £20 and £40

A human skull and thigh bone have been withdrawn from an Angus auction after a history expert called the sale "unethical."

The ex-medical items were listed in the sale to be held at Taylor's Auctions in Montrose next week.

The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland had criticised the sale saying it was wrong to "commodify human body parts."

The auction house owner Jonathan Taylor said the items were legal to sell but confirmed they would be removed.

The skull and thigh bone, along with a composite model of a human hip bone, were described as ex-medical display items and were each expected to reach between £20 and £40.

The society's director Dr Simon Gilmour told BBC Radio Scotland's Drivetime programme: "We think that it's wrong to commodify human body parts like this and give them a monetary value and try and buy and sell them.

"We make it illegal to do when you're alive, why would it change when you're dead?"

The auction was also set to include a thigh bone

Dr Gilmour said he had previously seen another auction house selling a human skull as a candle holder and "other bits of people being sold with no context."

The Human Tissue Act (2004) makes it an offence to "engage in commercial dealings of material for the purposes of transplantation" but does not specifically refer to bones.

Dr Gilmour said: "I think we need to amend the act in Scotland to incorporate the buying and selling of human remains, no matter what age they are from."