A SUNDAY morning bike ride ended in horror when a cyclist discovered the semi-naked body of a young woman. The man made the grim discovery at around 9.30am yesterday. Police were called to the picturesque moors just north of Egerton and a full-scale murder enquiry launched. A police helicopter flew overhead, traffic diversions were set up, and the immediate area around the body - about half way down Stones Bank Road - was sealed off.

The woman, naked apart from her underwear, was found on the far side of a stone wall next to a lay-by on the quiet road which runs parallel to the A666.

The man who discovered her called over another passing cyclist, Eric Collins, 48, of Ainsdale Drive, Darwen, who was out with the Darwen Dashers runn ing club. He was on his bike because he was still not fully fit.

It is thought that she had been there for a number of days.

Det Chief Supt Bill Hacking, Head of Lancashire CID, said: "It is too early to say exactly what has happened.

"We urgently need to speak to anyone who may have seen anything suspicious in the area and particularly in the lane itself in the last few days." The road, just off the A666 which runs between Bolton and Blackburn, is used during the day by lorry drivers and travellers who stop to rest and eat. A refreshment van is regularly situated there. Drivers continued to use the A666 only 50 yards away, oblivious to the grisly discovery on an area of grassland and trees.

A Home Office Pathologist was called to the scene.

He went with the body to Blackburn Royal Infirmary where a post mortem was carried out yesterday afternoon.

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