A POLICE investigation is under way after body parts of a large man were found on a stretch of beach around Aldeburgh.A Suffolk police spokeswoman said last night that an initial examination showed the body parts belonged to a large man who appears to have been in the water for at least three months.

A POLICE investigation is under way after body parts of a large man were found on a stretch of beach around Aldeburgh.

A Suffolk police spokeswoman said last night that an initial examination showed the body parts belonged to a large man who appears to have been in the water for at least three months.

A Home Office pathologist examined part of the right leg found by a fisherman on the beach at Slaughden at about 7.30am yesterday.

After he alerted the police to his gruesome discovery, a team of officers carried out a search of the coastline and discovered a further body part – the lower torso with the left leg attached – two-and-a-half miles south of Slaughden at about 12.30pm.

A small piece of spine was also found nearby, which made up the lower half of the body. The body parts were taken to the James Paget Hospital, Gorleston, for a post-mortem examination.

The pathologist later confirmed they all belonged to the same man, who was likely to be aged over 40 and more than 6ft tall.

The Suffolk police spokeswoman said: "There were no signs of clothing but the level of decomposition is such that it would not be unusual for the tide to cause the body to break up. There is nothing at this stage to indicate any suspicious circumstances."

She said the police and coastguards had spent much of yesterday searching the beach and would be out again this morning.

Acting Det Insp Kevin Hayward is heading the inquiry and officers will also be liasing with other police forces and coastguards to check the missing persons' records.

Samples have been taken for potential DNA analysis to assist with the identification of the man and the coroner has been informed.

Deputy coastguard station officer Shaun Bryenton, who spotted the torso in the sea said he believed the parts could have come from anywhere in the southern North Sea from Cromer across to the Dutch and German coast.

Aldeburgh mayor Felicity Bromage said it was not the first time dead bodies had been found along the beach.

"It does sound pretty gruesome," she said. "I'm just glad I wasn't the one who found it."

Such incidents were not totally unheard of when you lived along the coast, she said.

"It would be certainly not the first time bodies have been found on the beach here. I always think it's very poignant and sad for people who have lost someone at sea."