A murder inquiry was under way in Bradford today after the body of a 32-year-old man was found on a remote country track.

Mark Hickman, of Keighley, was discovered by two motorists who came across his body in Bridge Lane, Shelf, last night.

Police immediately sealed off the scene, and an incident room was set up.

A post-mortem examination has revealed he died from severe head injuries.

A police spokeswoman said his body was found by two passers-by at about 7.30pm 25 yards along Bridge Lane from its junction with South Lane in a remote area surrounded by farmland.

A team of police sealed off the surrounding area and was joined by senior detectives, scenes-of-crime officers and forensic scientists.

Detective Superintendent Howard Crowther, of Halifax CID who is heading the murder investigation, said it had been a very violent attack.

It appeared Mr Hickman had been killed at the scene, but police were still looking for a murder weapon.

There was no obvious motive for the killing of Mr Hickman, who was single.

"It was a very violent attack on this man," he said.

"It's too early at this stage to know what the motive was for the attack."

He said police were anxious to speak to anyone in the Shelf area between 5.30 and 7.30pm last night, and anyone who knew anything about Mr Hickman's movements between those times.

They in particular wanted to trace a blue G registration Peugeot 405 and a C registration Renault Savannah.

Searches would be carried out today and tomorrow in the area and local people would be quizzed to see if anyone had seen anything suspicious.

Calderdale councillor John Bradley, who lives nearby, said the incident would leave many elderly Shelf residents feeling anxious.

And Coun Bradley said Bridge Lane, which is commonly known as Brig Lane, was very isolated.

"It was an unadopted road and it's going into a terrible state of repair. Ordinary vehicles don't generally use it."

Jean Law, of Wadehouse newsagents shop, said: "The helicopter was up for ages last night. Police cars were all over the place. One of my customers said a white police tent had gone up. Everybody is asking what's going on."

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