The macabre practice of making money by selling the body parts of the dead is centuries old.

From Edinburgh corpse snatchers Burke and Hare to the more recent theft of bones from the late broadcaster Alistair Cooke, the crime has invoked horror and revulsion from the public.

:: In 1604 King James made it a felony to steal a corpse for witchcraft. But grave robbers could still sell bodies for medical purposes and the grim business reach a peak in the early 1800s.

:: The crime became so prevalent that relatives and friends of a deceased person would watch the grave for some time after the burial to make sure the plot was not violated.

:: Notorious body snatchers William Burke and William Hare began murdering people in Edinburgh in the 1820s in order to sell "fresher" bodies for a larger profit. The pair were caught in 1828.

:: Hare was acquitted of all charges after giving evidence against his partner. Burke was hanged on January 28, 1829. In an ironic twist, his body was donated for medical research. His skeleton is still on display at the city's University Medical School.

:: At the time of Burke and Hare, medical schools were allowed four corpses per year from the gallows but this was often insufficient and students were sometimes required to supply their own cadavers. To avoid the risk of arrest, they often paid "resurrection men" or "sack'em up" men to do the dirty work.

:: In 1832, The Anatomy Act was passed making it an offence to rob a grave. Dissection was only legal on unclaimed bodies of people who died in hospitals or poor houses.

:: In 1978, Charlie Chaplin's corpse was stolen from Corsier-Sur-Vevey Cemetery in Switzerland. A small group of Polish and Bulgarian mechanics took his body in an attempt to extort money from his family's £12 million inheritance. The plot failed and the corpse was recovered eleven weeks later near Lake Geneva. His body was reburied under two metres of concrete to prevent further attempts.

:: In October 2004, animal rights activists stole body parts from the grave of Gladys Hammond whose family bred guinea pigs for medical research. Three people were later convicted over the crime.

:: The body-snatching ring responsible for the theft of bones belonging to Alistair Cooke are believed to have plundered as many as 1,400 corpses over a four year period.

:: The legs of Alistair Cooke were stolen before he was cremated and illegally sold to a tissue-processing plant.