Three schoolchildren made a gruesome discovery during their lunch break when they found a dead body floating in the River Thames.

The corpse of an elderly white man was found in the water at the bottom of the playground at Saint James School for Senior Boys, in Cross Deep, Twickenham.

Police were called to the school by the deputy head at 1.16pm on Wednesday. The body was so badly decomposed that the identity of the man has not yet been discovered.

The youngsters were with a teacher where the playground meets the river when they spotted a peculiar shape in a part of the river where debris often collects.

Headteacher of the independent school David Boddy said: "They saw a significant amount of flotsam and noticed a strange mannequin type shape in the river."

He continued: "We have talked to and worked with the boys in question as it is clearly an unpleasant thing to see."

Mr Boddy added: "We have all said prayers for the departed man and for his relatives."

A police spokesman said it was unclear how long he may have been in the water for but due to the state of the body it may have been sometime. Officers are not treating the incident as suspicious.

She added: "A postmortem is booked in on Friday today so identification will not be made until then."

It is expected an inquest will be opened into his death next week.