New appeal over 'unexplained' burning car death

Buy photos » The scene yesterday (Wednesday) as forensics teams combed the burnt out car for clues (s)

MYSTERY surrounds the death of a person found in a burning car in a remote field near Stratford.

Warwickshire Police launched an investigation after the grim discovery in Aston Cantlow, at around 7.30am, on Wednesday (January 25).

They were called to the field, off Bearley Road, by firefighters who were called to the scene to put a car fire out - but the vehicle, believed to be a Peugeot 306, had a body in it.

A forensic tent was put up near to the burnt out car while detailed examinations took place but it had been removed today.

A police spokesperson told the Observer they were still treating the death as unexplained and were unable to rule out foul play.

A Home Office Pathologist was due to conduct a post mortem examination this morning to determine how the person died.

Police said they believe they know the identity of the person involved but would not reveal any information about them, even if it was a man or a woman, until formal identification had taken place. And they said this was likely to take some time due as the body was badly burnt.

The car was gutted, but police said it was either red or dark burgundy in colour.

Officers want to establish what time the car was driven onto the field and have appealed to anyone who may have seen or heard anything unusual in the area between around 1am and 7am on Wednesday (January 25) to come forward.

Det Insp, Liam Barry, from the investigation team, said: "We are appealing for anyone who saw or who heard anything unusual in the Aston Cantlow area between about 1am and 7am on Wednesday morning which was when the car was reported on fire.

"It may be that someone heard a car revving up, or heard music, or saw the car being driven on to the field. They may not have thought anything of it at the time, but we would like to hear from them."

One nearby resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, said it has come as a 'real shock'

They added: "We haven't heard anything about it yet so we are all quite concerned about what has happened.

"It's a very remote field away from the road so it's difficult to know what a car would be doing there."