POLICE are probing whether a dead man found stripped and bound to an airport bench with a slice of ham on each buttock and his genitals in an open tuna can was humiliated for begging.

Steven Allford, 51, from Great Britain, was discovered tied by the hand and leg to the bench in a landscaped garden between Malaga Airport’s train station and the busy terminal building last week.

A security guard made the grim discovery just before 9am on Friday.

It has now been reported that Allford was regularly seen in the area where he was found — which is frequented by homeless people.

Spanish media reports claim he was often seen pushing a trolley and begging for cash.

And it is now believed police are looking into whether this as a possible motive behind what happened to him.

They are still trying to establish whether he was alive when he was tied up and the food was placed on his body.

Investigators were also said to be examining whether he may have been the victim of sexual assault.

A source previously said: “It is not known if what happened was done after or before death.”

Preliminary tests revealed he choked to death on his own vomit after consuming excess alcohol.

And Spanish newspaper Sur reported that he suffered from schizophrenia and had problems with alcohol.

Shocked tourists filmed the moment the body was put on a stretcher and taken away.

Allford was identified by documents found in his belongings, which were on a trolley next to his body.

It is not known where in the UK he was originally from.

Malaga Airport is Spain’s fourth biggest and serves 14 million passengers a year.

This article originally appeared on The Sun.