Police release picture of lifelike manikin dummy after report of a 'man' being put in car boot

Police have released a photo of an extremely lifelike manikin after a report that a "man" had been put in a the boot of a car.

Officers halted their investigation after it emerged the "man" was, in fact, a very realistic dummy.

It turned out the figure was a manikin that was being used for water rescue training.

Gloucestershire Police made an initial appeal earlier this week after a member of the public called to say they had seen a man being put into the boot of a car on the A48 road in Blakeney.

The force carried out "urgent enquiries" throughout Wednesday in response to the call.

However, a number of people contacted police to say they had witnessed the alleged incident and believed the "man" was a dummy.

On Friday, Gloucestershire Police tweeted: "We issued an urgent appeal this week after a call that a man was seen being put into the boot of a car on the A48 in Blakeney.

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"Thankfully, we soon found out that the ‘man’ was in fact a realistic looking water rescue manikin by Extreme Simulations. Here he is in training that day."

The force published a picture of the manikin alongside its tweet. The images shows the dummy lying on its back in a pool of water.

In a statement, Gloucestershire Police said: "Police also received a call from a company which designs and creates realistic training manikins, and that it was a water rescue manikin which was being loaded into a car yesterday morning.

"Officers would like to thank the caller who reported the incident which was a call made with good intent, and for those who came forward with information following the appeal."

The original appeal said police received a report from a passing motorist who "thought they saw a man and a woman putting a man in a T-shirt into the boot of a dark coloured car."

The appeal stated: "Urgent enquiries have been ongoing this morning and, as the man has not yet been identified or found, detectives are now appealing to the public to try and establish what was taking place."