THE hunt for the body for missing mother-of-three Rania Alayed took a bizarre turn when police made a gruesome roadside discovery.

As they searched beside a lay-by at Asenby, near Thirsk, they came across a number of dumped black plastic bin bags containing bones and other organic remains.

However initial fears that they had found Ms Alayed’s body were quickly dismissed – after experts confirmed the remains were not human but those of an animal.

For several weeks officers from the North Yorkshire force have been helping colleagues from Greater Manchester who are searching along the A19 and parts of the A168 in the Thirsk area.

They are looking for the body of Ms Alayed, 25, who moved from Teesside to Manchester in January and was last seen alive in the early summer. Detectives believe her body may have been dumped by the A19.

As part of the search on Thursday police were going through undergrowth near a lay-by by the A168 slip-road to Asenby when they came across the black bags.

A layby on the A168 near Asenby, Thirsk is sealed off as police search for missing Ms Alayed There were several of them – possibly marked with the word Tameside, although police could not confirm that – and each contained bones and other remains.

However the bones were too large to be human and experts later confirmed they were animal remains, probably those of a cow.

“We don’t believe they are connected with our inquiry,” said a police spokesman, adding that the find appeared to be entirely co-incidental.

Meanwhile the hunt for Ms Alayed is continuing and officers were again combing through the undergrowth today, August 23.

She lived in Greta Road, Norton, Stockton, and in Middlesbrough before moving to Manchester at the beginning of the year. She was reported missing on July 2, but police believe she was last seen on June 7.

Detectives believe a white Leyland DAF 200 camper van that they think is connected with her disappearance, stopped at an unidentified lay-by in the Thirsk area between 3am and 5am on June 8.

Ahmed Khatib, 33, from Gorton, Manchester, and Muhammed Mahmood al Khatib, 38, of Arthur Millwood Court, Salford, have since been charged with murder.