A woman's body has been found lying in a busy street in Chatham, Kent, after it fell from a mortuary van.

Motorists called the police after spotting the corpse, wrapped in a black body bag, in the middle of the road on Tuesday.

The body was moved to the side of the street and covered by police while they tried to trace the van, which was found to belong to the local Co-Operative Funeral Service.

It is thought the driver was unaware the corpse had slipped from the vehicle at the time but eventually returned to the scene.

Regrettable

A Kent Police spokesman said: "Once they were tracked down they came back to take the body away".

The spokesman added that the driver had been reported for carrying an insecure load.

The Co-Operative Funeral Service in Chatham said the body was being transferred from a hospital to its premises when the incident happened.

A spokesman said: "We confirm that in a highly regrettable and distressing incident yesterday a stretcher carrying a body fell from the back of one of our funeral removal vehicles.

"Everyone concerned is extremely shocked and upset by the incident and we have launched an immediate inquiry into how it happened.

"We have contacted the family of the deceased to inform them of the incident.

"The police are also investigating and we are co-operating fully with their inquiries."