Body discovered in field was male

The body is thought to have been found in a bin liner

A body found in a field in an East Yorkshire village was that of a male, police have confirmed.

Officers were called to the scene in East Cowick after a man walking his dog discovered a body on Wednesday night.

Forensic tests are continuing in the area, which is near Goole and close to the M62.

Speaking at the scene on Friday, Det Ch Insp Christine Kelk would only confirm that the deceased was a man and the death was being treated as suspicious.

The body is understood to have been found in a bin liner and may have been there for up to six weeks.

Ms Kelk, of Humberside Police, said: "The victim appears to be male and would appear to have been there for some time."

Isolated lane

She said she did not know how old the person was but confirmed that it was not the body of a small child.

Officers were trying to establish whether the body had been dumped in the isolated lane off the A164 trunk road, she added.

Police could not rule out the possibility that the victim had died from natural causes but Ms Kelk said that was "highly unlikely".

"People do not die generally in the open air and obviously by the sheer nature it's not an area we would expect to find people dead," she said.

Ms Kelk said identifying the victim was the priority in the investigation, adding that this could take weeks.

She asked for anyone who remembered anything suspicious in the area to contact police.

The scene, near the M62 and 100 metres from the Aire and Calder Navigation canal, remained cordoned off on Friday.

Police officers guarded the lane where the body was discovered and forensic officers could be seen examining the area, where a square scaffolding construction covered part of a field and a nearby ditch.