Police seek to identify body found in Chippenham car park (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Police seek to identify body found in Chippenham car park

9:14am Wednesday 8th August 2012 in News By Staff reporter

Detectives are still working to establish the identity of a body discovered among the debris of a fire in a supermarket car park in Chippenham yesterday.

The human remains were found by a police dog handler at Sainsbury's early on Tuesday.

Wiltshire Police said the handler became suspicious after spotting a fire in the car park while on routine patrol. Once the fire was put out, a body was discovered in the debris.

Police have not been able to identify the age or sex of the victim because of the body's decomposed state but a post-mortem examination is to take place later.

Forensic officers were called to the scene in Bath Road to search for evidence after the supermarket was closed and the car park cordoned off by police.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Power said it is too early to say whether the circumstances surrounding the death were suspicious.

He added: "We would like to hear from anyone who was in and around the area of the Sainsbury's car park between the hours of 1.30am and 3am.

The car park is quite active late at night, as people drive through to use the cashpoint or walk through as a short cut.

"In particular, we would like to hear from you if you were driving through the car park or if you were the young couple who were spotted walking through the car park holding hands. You may hold information that would assist us in our inquiries, so I would urge you to speak to us."

Last night police were studying CCTV tapes of the car park to try and establish what happened. A post mortem examination will be carried out on the body today and detectives will be hoping it will establish a cause of death.

Sainsbury's re-opened last night after being cordoned off all day. Staff have been warned not to talk about the grisly find in the car park.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police.