'Plane stowaway' found dead in road

Police were investigating today whether a man whose body was found in a residential street was a stowaway who fell from a plane.

The body of the man was discovered in Portman Avenue, Mortlake, south west London, yesterday morning.

The man, believed to be in his 30s, suffered multiple injuries.

Portman Avenue resident Joe Dodd told London's Evening Standard: "When I got up at eight, the body was still on the pavement. They had not moved it.

"We were not allowed out of our house for ages. There was police and ambulances everywhere. From where I was, it looked like he had a head injury of some kind. There was loads of blood everywhere, all over the street and on a car."

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said officers were called to Portman Avenue at around 7.55am yesterday "following reports of a dead body".

She said: "The death is currently being treated as unexplained. A post-mortem examination will be held in due course. Inquiries are ongoing to establish the male's identity."

She added that the theory that he might have been a stowaway who fell from a plane was "one line of inquiry".

PA