Madrid - Thieves stole the skull of a 14th century Spanish pope from a ruined palace in a remote town in Spain, demanded a million peseta (£6,134) ransom but failed to turn up at the nominated collection point.
The skull of Pope Benedict XIII was stolen in April from a boarded-up palace that once belonged to a local count, a civil guard officer in Sabinan, in the central region of Aragon, said. The mayor of the nearby town of Illueca, the birthplace of the pope, went to the rendezvous with at least 15 police.