Bid to identify 'body in lane'

Forensic experts search the scene where the body was found

A woman whose body was found in a country lane had been stripped naked and received savage injuries to the head, a post mortem has revealed.

The woman's body, aged between 16 and 25, was found at around 0830 GMT on Sunday by a man walking his dog off the A38 at Rashwood, near Droitwich, Worcestershire.

Detective Superintendent Mel Shore, leading the investigation, told a news conference in Worcester on Monday that the post mortem showed the woman died of massive injuries to the head and face.

West Mercia Police said that because the scene was so close to the M5 motorway, the attempt to identify the victim would take in people reported missing from across the UK.

Det Supt Shore said: "We are in the process of checking missing persons' details with forces across the country, but at this time we have had no precise match with our victim."

Body not concealed

He added that although the post mortem has been completed, further tests are still being conducted.

"We believe this woman died sometime between 6pm on Saturday evening and 8.30am on the morning of Remembrance Sunday," he said.

Mr Shaw said that neither a weapon nor the victim's clothes had yet been found, adding that no attempt had been made to conceal the body.

He refused to comment on whether she had been sexually assaulted.

The woman was described as white, 5ft 3ins tall and weighing eight-and-a-half stone. She had brown, collar-length, straight hair and blue-green eyes.

About 20 officers are working on the case, and forensic experts have been carrying out tests at the scene, which is off junction five of the M5 near the Robin Hood pub.

The lane in which the woman's body was found leads to the Rashwood Nursing Home.