DETECTIVES probing the York body-in-a-suitcase mystery are set to speak to officers in Hampshire after the body of an Asian man was found dumped in a suitcase at a railway station.
Hampshire Police have launched a murder hunt after the body of a man in his late twenties was found by British Transport Police investigating a suspect package outside Basingstoke railway station.
A Hampshire Police spokesman said a post-mortem examination showed the man, who is yet to be identified, had died from "severe lacerations".
The force, which is headed by former North Yorkshire deputy chief constable Paul Kernaghan, is appealing for information on an Asian man who was seen dumping the case, which was discovered at about 6.50pm yesterday.
The man was described as being about 5ft 5ins tall, in his late forties, of thin build with short greying hair. He was wearing a light brown suit, tie and overcoat.
He was seen carrying the "very large" navy-blue suitcase and three shopping bags. Officers there are appealing for anyone who saw the case outside Basingstoke Cycle Works, near the station, to get in touch.
A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said today that detectives investigating the discovery last month of the badly-decomposed body of an Oriental woman, who had been bound and gagged and dumped in a suitcase in a lane near Askham Richard, would be making contact with their counterparts in Hampshire.
Hampshire Police were unable to say if the victim was bound and gagged or whether he was clothed.
The Askham Richard woman had been partially-clothed and had been bound and gagged with distinctive tape designed by controversial artists Gilbert and George and sold exclusively in the country's four Tate art galleries.
The results of tests carried out by consultant forensic anthropologist Dr Sue Black, which were revealed yesterday, showed the woman was Oriental and in her late twenties.
Dr Black, from Glasgow University, said it was most likely the woman came from the East and South China Sea regions.
Detectives in York earlier issued an e-fit image of a man who was seen in the lane off the A64 in the early hours of November 2 - the earliest time at which the suitcase was seen - but have so far been unable to identify him.
The dead woman's identity and the cause of her death still remain a mystery.
Updated: 15:04 Friday, December 21, 2001
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