Browsers got more than they bargained for after a BBC website story about murdered Jews linked to a site promoting the health benefits of cannabis. 

The BBC accidentally posted the wrong link in a news story about the discovery of murdered Jews discovered down a medieval well in Norwich.

The link was supposed to take browsers to a related story about the history of Jews in Norwich but instead it goes to a website of a firm promoting medicinal cannabis for health conditions. 

Actress Tracy-Ann Oberman was among the Twitter users who found the mix up funny.  She posted an emoji of a woman slapping her forehead. 

The BBC said the original story, from 2011, did direct users to the right site and it had now removed the misdirected link.

But activist Alex Hearn, who flagged the blunder, said he was wary about giving the BBC the “benefit of the doubt”. 

Linking to a story published this week about the BBC being named third on the Global Antisemitism Top Ten List by the well-respected Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Mr Hearn said: “In the context of their activities over antisemitism, is it part of the pattern?”

The remains of 17 bodies were found at the bottom of a medieval well in 2004, during an excavation of a site in Norwich city centre.  They were put into storage and only later tested to establish who they were and how they may have died. 

A documentary, called ‘History Cold Case: The Bodies in a well’ charting the DNA analysis of the remains revealed the skeletons dated back to the 12th or 13th Century at a time when Jewish people were being persecuted throughout Europe. 

Eleven of the skeletons were children, the remaining six were adults and five of them had a DNA sequence that suggested they came from a single family. The remains showed no signs of disease, suggesting they were either murdered or forced to commit suicide.