Police closed off a road for two days to investigate a report of a dead body dumped in woods - only to find out it was a discarded sex doll.

Warwickshire Police said it was with “great relief” that the hand and foot spotted poking out of undergrowth turned out to be an inflatable love aid.

The force said it had followed “proper procedure” by sending a forensic pathologist to the woodland near Kineton, and cordoning off a country lane for 31 hours. But the suspected body was actually a “discarded and realistic life-size doll”, a spokesperson added.

“When they finally dragged the ‘corpse’ out they realised the blunder. The officers had a big laugh about it. It was a very dirty, broken and overused sex doll.”