Murder inquiry after human bones found in River Stour in Sudbury

The bones were found in the River Stour in Sudbury on Thursday afternoon

A murder inquiry has been launched after bags of bones found in a river near a shopping trolley were identified as human remains.

Police were called to the the River Stour between Meadow Gates and Croft Bridge in Sudbury, Suffolk, on Thursday afternoon and found two bags of bones.

"The bones have now been confirmed to be human remains," said Suffolk Police.

"Due to the suspicious circumstances in which they were found, detectives are treating this as a murder inquiry."

Police also set up an incident tent just up the hill from the footbridge

Officers were called just after 16:35 BST on Thursday after bones were discovered inside two black bin bags, which were recovered from the River Stour near Meadow Gates and Croft Bridge.

A member of the public had spotted the bags in the river earlier in the afternoon and reported them.

A shopping trolley was found a little further along the river from where the bags were located.

A Home Office post-mortem examination is due to take place on Saturday.

Police described the discovery as "very concerning"

Insp Kevin Horton, local policing commander for Sudbury, said: "Discoveries such as this are extremely rare - especially in Suffolk - and as such we do not believe there is any cause for concern to members of the public.

"We would ask anyone with information about this discovery to make contact with the Major Investigation Team immediately. This includes anyone who believes they saw the bags in the river prior to yesterday afternoon, or saw the shopping trolley either in this location or elsewhere along the river."