By David LennardPART of a popular beach was sealed off following the discovery of a man's body on the shore.Police were called to the beach in Pakefield, near Lowestoft, shortly after 10am yesterday when a man walking his dog made the gruesome discovery.

By David Lennard

PART of a popular beach was sealed off following the discovery of a man's body on the shore.

Police were called to the beach in Pakefield, near Lowestoft, shortly after 10am yesterday when a man walking his dog made the gruesome discovery.

He had come across the body of a decomposed adult male had been washed up on the beach about 200 metres south of Grand Avenue.

Officers immediately sealed off the area and a Suffolk police spokesman said they were treating the matter as an “unexplained death”.

The body, which is believed to have been in the water for a considerable period of time, was decomposed.

Lowestoft coroner George Leguen de Lacroix was informed of the discovery and an inquest is likely to be held at a later date.

The man's body was later taken to the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston and Home Office pathologists will carry out a post-mortem examination on Monday to try to establish the man's identity and how he died.

Yesterday's discovery was the latest incident of a body being washed up on the Suffolk coast in recent months.

In December last year various body parts were washed up on the beach in Slaughden, near Aldeburgh.

The body parts - which included a torso and leg, a piece of spine and another leg - belonged to a large adult male who appeared to have been in the water for at least three months.

Suffolk police have yet to discover the man's identity and have sent samples away for DNA analysis in the hope of matching them to the profiles of missing people.

It is possible the man entered the water abroad, either in Germany or the Netherlands, and been carried to the Suffolk coast by tides.

In February last year the body of 51-year-old grandmother Susan Atkins was washed up on the beach close to Ness Point, Lowestoft.

Mrs Atkins had been missing from her home in Acle, near Great Yarmouth, for a week. An inquest heard she had been suffering from “severe depression” and a verdict of “suicide” was recorded by the coroner.

david.lennard@eadt.co.uk