Police investigate body found with 'potentially hazardous' substance dumped on Wigan street

Detectives are investigating “potentially hazardous” substances found on a body dumped in the street.

The discovery was made on a residential street around 7pm on Thursday in Shevington, a suburb of Wigan, Greater Manchester.

The identity of the dead person and the substance has yet to be confirmed by police, detective superintendent Alan Clitherow of Greater Manchester Police told reporters at press conference at the scene.

He said the identity and sex of the person will be confirmed once a Home Office post-mortem is held after the body, covered by a white and yellow police tent, has been removed from the scene.

The corpse was found on Kilburn Avenue in Shevington, on rough ground between neighbouring houses, which leads to a dirt track and open fields.

Mr Clitherow said: “It is a challenging set of circumstances, we have got dedicated officers from the Major Incident Team, obviously less than 24 hours into the investigation, so we are now unpicking exactly what has gone on.

“We don’t know what the substance is, we have done some initial inquiries, we know it’s low risk, so as I mentioned before, anyone directly in contact with the body should seek medical advice if they feel unwell but there’s no wider risk to anyone else.”

He said members of the public should not be alarmed if they see officers wearing protective clothing to remove the body, saying this is “purely precautionary.”

Police have urged anyone with information about the incident to contact the force. Members of the public can pass information to police via LiveChat or by calling 101 quoting incident number 000910 of November 25.