Recovering the Shropshire mammoth bones at Condover in 1986.

A debate over who should get the credit for the discovery of the famous Shropshire mammoth in 1986 has taken another twist with the former county woman who alerted the authorities declaring: “I have never, ever, said that I found the bones”.

Eve Roberts has responded to comments in the Shropshire Star from quarry workers who believe they should get recognition for uncovering the bones at Condover quarry.

Mrs Roberts, who lived at the time in Bayston Hill, said: “I was walking the dogs with my late husband and there were these bones on the side. The bones were in spoil – it was all a big spoil heap.

“To suggest that I could have found them is absolutely ridiculous. How could I go digging in a quarry?

“They were all piled up and nobody was doing anything about them. One of the lads on the site shouted something about a horse. I went over and had a look.

“I have a picture of the bone before anybody came there, with a credit card over it to show the size of it. I thought ‘This is something different’. I went home and rang Geoff McCabe of the museum people.”

Mrs Roberts, who lives on the Welsh coast, considers that suggestions that she has been going round claiming to find the bones amount to a slur on her character.

“I have never, ever claimed that I dug the bones up. It’s ridiculous to suggest that I could dig up bones in a quarry. But I do claim to have made the phone call because they were lying there, and nobody asked us to make that phone call.”

By Toby Neal