British police are investigating the discovery of macabre pictures on a mobile found by children including one of an embalmer laughing as he holds up a severed head.

The picture features a man named as David Amor smirking at the camera.

Children found the mobile phone in a ditch.

There are three images on the phone showing the body, the Daily Mail newspaper reported.

The person is believed to have been hit and killed by a train.

Chief Inspector Olly Wright, said: "The incident is being treated seriously and while we carry out our initial investigation we feel it would be inappropriate to speculate as to the circumstances in which this photo was taken."

The father of the children who found the phone said the pictures showed a total lack of respect for the dead.

A spokesman for the British Institute of Embalmers told the Daily Mail the behaviour was shocking and said the relatives of the dead man would be appalled.