So on the following Wednesday he went back to Coniston with a view to recovering the package. He and his colleague brought a lift bag, an inflatable bag to lift it off the surface and to pull it away. On searching initially apparently he said they swam past the bag, no doubt due to the visibility, but they found it. He said the package was near a rocky outcrop which he had noticed on the first dive on the previous Sunday. He said the rocks were about two metres or so from the bag. It was quite possible he said to swim past things, even though they might be quite close in that environment. He said he found nothing else in the immediate area apart from the bag. They attached the lifting gear by means of carobena clips, but one they could not get in because the cords were too tight. They returned to shore, surfacing slowly and dragging the bag behind them. They pulled it on to the shore. They did not try to open it without a knife, but decided to cut it just enough to get an idea of what the contents were. He said he cut the outer bag by some 12 inches. Inside there was a black bin liner type of bag which he had cut to no more than six inches, and it was at that stage the awful realisation dawned as to what the contents might be.
The police came. Mr. Mason said he did not touch the body after making that cut. He did add that as he cut the blue cord on top of the package, a weight had dropped off. He said it was lead, but he did not describe it any further.