A postmortem examination on a body was discovered in Mitcham Common on Monday has proved inconclusive, police said this afternoon.

The gruesome discovery was reported to police at 2.30pm on Monday afternoon, prompting a full-scale investigation by forensics experts and detectives from the Metropolitan Police.

A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said this afternoon, a postmortem examination, which began yesterday, had not established a cause of death or the sex of the body.

She added further tests were being conducted.

Nor was the pathologist able to determine the age or gender of the dead person, she added, and that more tests would need to be conducted over the weekend.

The body, which was found by scrap hunters in a secluded part of the Common which is notorious for industrial fly-tipping, was apparently so decomposed at the scene that police officers were unable to confirm right away whether the body was human.

Commenting on the state of decomposition, an officer at the scene said: "I can’t tell you how long it has been there. Even a pathologist would struggle to tell you that.

“We have identified that the body is human, but I can’t tell you any details about its age, sex, or any indication of how it came to be there.”

It was hoped the postmortem would reveal the missing clues needed to help police determine whether or not foul play was involved, or even to confirm the person died at the scene or was dumped there from another location.

Martin Boyle, the warden of Mitcham Common who manages the park, was informed of the discovery on Monday afternoon and said it had become a hotspot for fly-tipping.

Mr Boyle said: “Historically there have been a couple of suicides in the Common over the last few years, and a murder about five years ago, so it’s still pretty rare for a body to be found like this.

“The area in question has become a huge problem in terms of fly-tipping. Lorries will often drive into the estate and dump all kinds of industrial waste on the Common near the footpath.”

Merton Council workers, he added, clear up the rubbish from the affected area on a monthly basis and last cleared the area two weeks ago.

The body was discovered in a secluded area near an industrial estate on Red House Road, containing car repair shops, including All Car Bodyworks, whose workers’ cars had been caught behind the police cordon on Monday.

One worker said: “All we’ve been told is that a body has been found across the road on the Common.

“Obviously you just don’t expect to hear that you might have been working next to a dead body this whole time – it’s so creepy.”

The last body to be discovered in Mitcham Common was in July 2006, when 27-year-old Harrods shop worker Egeli Rasta was murdered by Gareth Davies, a heavy cannabis user who lived nearby.