POLICE have launched an investigation after body parts were washed up on a beach 30 miles from where a Bolton diver disappeared.

Detectives were called to the beach at St Bees, Cumbria, after the grim discovery at the weekend.

The remains were found more than nine months after Albert Paxford was last seen as he dived with other members of Horwich Sub-Aqua club, five miles off the Scottish coast.

A police spokesman confirmed the body parts had been in the sea for "some considerable time".

He said: "We have contacted other police forces to see if they have any missing persons that could be connected with our inquiry."

Mr Paxford, a Greater Manchester Police detective from Westhoughton, vanished without trace about five miles off Burrow Head, Dumfries and Galloway, on October 6.

Several attempts to search the area where Mr Paxford was last seen had to be called off due to bad weather.

Earlier this year, nine Strathclyde police divers were able to complete an initial search for the father-of-two but it proved fruitless.

Throughout the search Mr Paxford's wife and children, who live in Quakerfields, Westhoughton, have been kept fully informed of the latest developments.

A Cumbria police spokesman has admitted it may take a number of weeks before details of the victim could be released.