Detectives were today investigating the death of a man whose body was discovered on a walkway at a block of flats.
Police sealed off the block on the Woodgrange Drive Estate in Southend.
A post mortem to establish exactly how the man died, was inconclusive and more tests are being carried out.
The man is local and believed to be in his 30s. Ambulance crews, who received a call from a member of the public, alerted police at 2.45am yesterday.
They cordoned off the walkway on the third floor of Romany Steps, Beresford Road.
Residents awoke on the first day of the new year to find a blue canvas tent covering the body, police tape protecting the scene and at least four forensic officers in white suits taking photographs.
An Essex Police spokeswoman said: "We don't think he was there particularly long. We believe he had some connection with the estate."
Ken Wood, 55, of Beresford Road said: "This is the fifth body in three or four years. If this happened in Thorpe Bay they would send in 5 Para."
Published Friday January 2, 2004
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