THE body of a man was found in the car park at Castlepoint shopping centre yesterday morning.

Police and ambulance attended the scene in the lower level car park around 8am, cordoning off a section to deal with the incident.

The death is not being treated as suspicious.

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said: “At approximately 8am Dorset Police received a report of an incident at Castlepoint, Bournemouth.

“Officers attended a location in the lower level car park area where sadly a man in his 50s was found to have died.

“The coroner has been informed and the death is not being treated as suspicious. The next of kin are yet to be contacted.”

Eyewitnesses reported seeing two police cars blocking off the lower underground car park entrance near to the St Edmund Campion Catholic Church at Castlepoint. There were also blue screens and white tents underneath the car park.

Chris Mortimer, 65, from Somerset, said he was driving through the car park around 8.45am when he saw an ambulance and two or three police cars. He said there was a tarpaulin covering part of the car park.

Staff at the library said they had seen the police cars when they arrived for work but had not been told what was happening.

Police left the scene around 9am and the car park was fully open.

Management at Castlepoint declined to make any comment.