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Workmen clearing an empty house thought a tailor's dummy hanging in the garage was a sick joke.

So they cut it down and took it to the dump in their pick-up truck, where a landfill worker realised it was a corpse and called the police.

Israel Lopez, 50, and Adam Hines, 30, told officials in Florida they thought the mannequin was a distasteful Halloween-style hoax left by a former tenant.

A statement from Hernando County Sheriff’s office said: "They cut the mannequin down, placed it on top of a pile of garbage in the back of the pick-up truck and proceeded to the landfill."

(Image: Facebook)

Police have since confirmed that 33-year-old former tenant Jeremy Witsoth had apparently committed suicide several weeks ago.

They said the the body was ‘in a state of decomposition similar to mummification.’