The death of an 18-year-old woman, whose body was found on railway lines outside Rayleigh, is not being treated as suspicious, police have said.

The woman, whose identity had not been released, was found at about midday on Friday on the line half a mile north east of Rayleigh station.

She was declared dead at the scene by a doctor. Police have so far only revealed that she was a student living in the Rayleigh area but said a formal identification was expected to be carried out today (Wednesday).

A post mortem into the cause of death will also be held this week.

British Transport Police were alerted to the area when the driver of the 11.30am service from Southend Victoria to Liverpool Street reported hitting an object on the line.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.