A JILTED lover? A marriage gone wrong? Or the loss of a much-loved memento?It's not the usual kind of investigation for a traffic police officer, but today Suffolk police are looking into the case of the mystery wedding dress.

A JILTED lover? A marriage gone wrong? Or the loss of a much-loved memento?

It's not the usual kind of investigation for a traffic police officer, but today Suffolk police are looking into the case of the mystery wedding dress.

The pristine dress was found lying in string-wrapped cardboard box just a few feet from the A14 by police who attended an accident earlier this month.

Now they are desperately trying to trace the owner of the ivory coloured lace dress and solve the puzzle as to what it was doing there.

Sergeant John Hawkes of Suffolk road policing unit went to the scene of a crash at the Trimley interchange on June 12.

He said: “While taking photos I saw a package in a string-wrapped cardboard box.

“The box was just behind the gorse bush on the left of the first bridge directly ahead, only a few feet from the main carriageway itself.

“It was sheltered from the elements a bit, but not enough to explain the near pristine condition of its contents.

“It had an address on so I picked it up, intending to take it back to the company the next day.”

A label in the box indicated that the dress had cost £70 in the sale and had been bought from a wedding boutique called Sally Q.

But once the sergeant carried out his detective work he realised the shop no longer existed.

Sgt Hawkes added: “When I went there (Dogs Head Street in Ipswich) I saw there was no such premises anymore.

“The phone number on the label is also only five digits and it must be decades ago that we had five digit local numbers.”

Now he is hoping someone who recognises the dress or knew workers at Sally Q may be able to help solve the puzzle of the mysterious wedding dress and eventually reunite it with its owner - as long as the owner wants to be.

He said: “So there you have it, a dress that has been in a time warp with Dr Who as there is no damage to the dress, save slight soiling on the hem which suggests that it has been used.”

Do you have any clues to shed light on the wedding dress mystery? Contact The Evening Star news desk on 01473 324788 or email starnews@eveningstar.co.uk.