AN area of North Yorkshire farmland was cordoned off by police after a farm worker discovered a body.

The farm employee found the body under a hedge on the Rudfarlington Farm, near Plumpton Rocks, between Harrogate and Knaresborough, early yesterday afternoon.

Mike Reynolds, 37, a tenant farmer on the council-owned 300-acre holding, said the worker had phoned him to report the gruesome find near Forest Lane.

"I went up and had a look and it was in the bottom of a hedge," he told the Evening Press.

"Obviously it's a shock when you find a body - it's not something that happens every day."

Police were called to the scene at 1.10pm.

An underwater search unit from York joined the recovery police teams, who removed the body later in the evening.

Detective Superintendent Kevin Doyle, of North Yorkshire Police, said: "We have recovered a body from the field.

"The body will be removed from Harrogate to the mortuary at York Hospital where a post-mortem examination will take place.

"The incident and the body found are being treated as a non-explained death at this time.

"We cannot confirm the identity of the body at the moment."

The area was expected to remain cordoned off until the result of the post-mortem was known.

Mr Reynolds said he did not know who the dead person was, nor had it been possible to tell whether it was a man or a woman.

James Davies, 26, an IT network consultant who lives in nearby Dalby Avenue, said: "We didn't know what was going on. It's not very nice."

Police in Harrogate have been searching for missing man Kevin Cahill, from Starbeck in the town, since June 22. Mr Cahill, 25, was described as an epileptic and was said to be suffering from depression.

Police today declined to comment on whether there was any link between Mr Cahill's disappearance and the body find.

Updated: 08:38 Saturday, July 17, 2004