MYSTERY surrounds how the rotting carcase of a cat ended up on a Worcester industrial estate.

The animal was found in the car park on Gregorys Mill Estate, in Barbourne by workers on Monday morning, shocking and puzzling those working in the area.

Dave Williams a sales executive for Thompson Discount Electrical Limited was one of the first people to witness the gruesome spectacle.

He said: "It was a horrible sight and I don't know how it got there as the estate is locked over the weekend."

"Many of the staff will have seen this which is very unpleasant and it was obviously a concern for health."

To prevent any further alarm being caused employees hid the animal by putting wooden pallets around it until it was collected by the RSPCA later in the day.

Many of the workers believed it had been a skinned and gutted dog and Mr Williams expressed surprise at the RSPCA's examination showing it to be a cat.

He added: "If it was a cat it was the biggest cat I have ever seen.

An RSPCA spokesman said: "An examination showed the animal to have a feline skull and there is no evidence that it was anything other than a natural death and other animals have moved the body along.

"It was very badly decomposed," the spokesman added.