A local female fish worker, based at nearby Seagate, said: “When I came to work I saw police standing about and then I heard that a head had been found.

“I watched police examine something on the beach further away and then they came closer and began looking at something else.”

Another worker, at the Newgate Inn on West Newgate, said: “I spoke to one of the regulars whose house is by the beach.

“He’s been taking his daughters out because there’s lots of police and things at the scene.

A spokesman added that a hand had also been recovered from the beach.

The force said the body parts were being removed and would be subject to further “detailed forensic examination”.

More to follow...