POLICE have launched a murder-style investigation into the mystery death of a man whose body was discovered in a brook in Clitheroe town centre early today.

The body was discovered by a man walking his dog in a section of Mearley Brook running through a field off the Inner Bypass, which runs between Waterloo and Peel Street, near St Michael and St John's Primary School.

A police spokesman said an investigation had been launched into the death of a man aged between 25 and 35 and believed to be local. He said the area would be sealed off for some time.

Detective Inspector Tony Harling added: "We are treating this as suspicious. We still have to establish a cause of death and the body has not been formally identified."

Police cordoned off the area and left the body where it was found. A Home Office pathologist was called to the scene. A post mortem examination was expected to be carried out once the body had been taken to Blackburn Infirmary. The busy Inner Bypass was sealed off while police conducted their investigations. A resident in Peel Street, who did not want to be named, said he believed the body was found by a man from Grafton Street who was walking his dog at about 7am. He added that there were rumours in the area of a fight last night but said: "It must have been late because I came in at 11.30pm and it was all quiet."

Police diverted rush hour traffic down back streets to avoid the scene.

Officers from Clitheroe, Great Harwood and Blackburn CID attended the scene.

A staff member from the Hair Company salon in Peel Street said: "We didn't see anything. We have heard rumours that the body of a man has been found, but that's all we know."

Owner Louise Fearnley-Brown said: "People keep coming in and asking us what has happened but we don't know anything."

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