HAMPSHIRE Police has ruled out the possibility of human remains discovered on a beach in Warsash being linked to any high-profile missing persons cases in the county.

The discovery was made on Saturday afternoon by a passer-by, who alerted a local resident to call the police.

Initially officers contacted the families of all missing people from the county.

But they later announced that they were certain the find was not linked to any case in Hampshire.

A team of ten to 20 officers are currently working on the inquiry, but have not yet identified the age or sex of the remains.

It is not yet known how long they have been there but it is thought that they could be more than 100 years old.

One onlooker who did not want to be named said yesterday: "In the past century the cliffs have eroded quite a lot. These remains could have been buried near the edge of the cliff and fallen into the water."

A police spokesman said further searches of the beach area were being carried out yesterday.