St. Gallen, Switzerland has become the scene for some disturbing images of late: it is the kind where you might be inclined to bring in Helen Mirren's Inspector Tennison or maybe even cult hero Lt Columbo as played by the late Peter Falk, to help determine who did it.

Just what exactly did somebody do? The story goes something like this: the theatre in St Gallen had ordered 100 fibreglass "corpses" to be made in an Italian props studio for use in the upcoming premiere of the Giuseppe Verdi's opera, Attila on 21 June. On the expected date of delivery, no bodies arrived. The theatre waited nerviously for two long days wondering what they were going to do. Then the props studio in Rome called to say that they had no idea where the truck and the 100 "products" were.

Finally the truck arrived but the products were, for the most part, damaged beyond theatre use, with only five bodies intact upon delivery. What happened? The Italian truck driver fessed up that he had trouble at the Italian/Swiss border and was barred from entering Switzerland. He would need to replace the vehicle he was driving as the truck was not up to Swiss standards. He did not answer his mobile phone as he was afraid to tell the truth about the situation, that he needed to get another vehicle and transfer the 100 bodies; besides he was now really late for the scheduled delivery. Though initially upset with the delivery of 95 fake corpses now reduced to gruesome looking body parts, in the meantime the theatre will use them "as is" though the plans for re-use in future plays and operas is now unrealistic.

So why did the bodies arrive broken and missing torsos and heads? Well that is a question only Inspector Tennison or Lt Columbo can answer!