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A forensic scientist has been fired on suspicion of having sex with a dead body after a cop allegedly walked in on him in the act.

Local media report Wanderley dos Santos Silva, 52, was fired by the Institute of Legal Medicine for allegedly having sex with a corpse in the city of Manaus, in the north-western Brazilian state of Amazonas.

According to local media reports, an officer from the Department of Forensic Police had gone into the autopsy room in order to collect additional information about a dead woman when he allegedly found Silva having sex with the body.

Silva is said to have pulled his trousers up and fled the scene after realising he had been spotted.

(Image: Getty Images/fStop)

The case was immediately reported to the Department of Forensic Police and Silva along with an unnamed colleague were immediately fired for "serious functional faults".

The Secretary of Public Security said the pair are suspected of having gone out to celebrate their football team Flamengo winning the Copa de Libertadores and returned to the Institute of Legal Medicine drunk.

Silva was then allegedly caught with the corpse in the early hours of the following morning.

A police case into necrophilia has been launched. Local lawyer Penelope Antony told reporters that Silva could face between one and three years in prison if found guilty of having sex with the corpse.

Brazilian police have yet to confirm that Silva has been formally arrested.

Shockingly, necrophilia was not a criminal offence in the UK until 2003.

Since the drafting of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, the offence can carry a tariff up up to 2 years' imprisonment if tried in a Crown Court.