DETECTIVES have been searching in Gravesend for a body that may have been buried on a playing field. A team of Metropolitan Police officers from the South London Serious Crimes Group moved onto the Gravesend Grammar School for Boys field. It is close to the boundary with St John's Catholic School.

A Metropolitan Police press officer for the South London area said: "All I know is that we are searching the playing fields after receiving information that there may be a body there." She was unable to say whether anything had been uncovered.

A witness who watched the search unfold said a large number of officers carried out a detailed search of the area. He said: "A police van and other vehicles completely blocked the access point to the field, next to a bus in Old Milton Road Later a large marquee had been put up just inside the playing field behind large screens that had been erected."

A Metropolitan Police press officer said: "The search has finished and they (police officers) won't discuss matters further."