Gory remnants of a badly butchered pig carcass have been dumped beside a road to the north of Ipswich.

Farmer Tom Walne made the grisly discovery at the bottom of Old Norwich Road, Whitton, as he returned from feeding his sheep on Friday morning.

The 80-year-old Castle Hill resident fears the two large bags of rotting flesh could spread disease and said he was concerned to find them still there this morning (Sunday) - despite having been reported.

The two plastic bags contain a mixture of guts, entrails and trotters - though the head appears to have been removed.

With the National Farmers’ Union reporting an increase in livestock rustling, Mr Walne, said he believed the pig may have been stolen from a nearby farm before being slaughtered. He also suggested the pig may have been kept illegally and slaughtered in someone’s back garden for consumption or sale on the black market.

“I’m completely baffled by it,” Mr Walne added.

“The whole thing is a mystery.

“It’s disgusting - we’ve had some funny things fly-tipped but that’s by far the most disgusting we’ve had there.”

The livestock owner had hoped the police may have treated the incident as a crime to bring it into public awareness.

However a spokesman for Suffolk Constabulary said the matter had been passed to the local authority to deal with on hygiene grounds.