Severed head found in Cambridgeshire quarry 'was carried almost 40 miles in lorry full of construction waste'

A post-mortem has failed to find the identity or gender of the person

Police search for the remains of a body at construction site in Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire after a head was found in a quarry in Cambridgeshire. (PA)

A severed head found at a quarry in Cambridgeshire may have travelled up to 40 miles in a lorry carrying construction waste.

Police said a post-mortem examination of the remains was unable to identify whether the head belongs to a man or woman, but confirmed the person died before 1 January 2015.

It was found by a worker at a quarry in Mepal on Monday, sparking a major investigation attempting to trace its origin.

A police vehicle enters Block Fen Quarry at Mepal, near Ely, in Cambridgeshire, where a severed head was discovered on Monday. (PA)

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Police said officers had been searching a site almost 40 miles away in Mill Road, Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, where the head is believed to have come from.

She told The Independent that construction work was being carried out on a railway bridge there, with waste being driven to the Mepal site.

“The head was found in a load of construction waste,” she added.

Detectives from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit are working with specialists in order to establish the gender and identity of the dead person.

A spokesman for Mick George Ltd, the company that runs the Mepal quarry, said: “We are working closely with the police and providing them with all the information they need to undertake their investigations.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the Major Crime Unit on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.