A GRIM search was launched after suspected human bones were found by a pond.

The gruesome discovery was made by a fisherman and the site was sealed off by Sussex Police.

Officers spent yesterday carrying out a detailed search of the area at Pease Pottage, near Crawley, to see if they could unearth any more bones.

The bones already found have been sent off for forensic testing to see whether they are human or animal.

This had not been confirmed by the time The Argus went to press.

If human, the bones will need to be carbon tested so experts can work out whether they are recent or date back hundreds or thousands of years.

They were found in Parish Lane last Monday and reported to police on Wednesday.

It is not the first time a discovery like this has been made in the north of the county.

In 2012 human bones were found next to the southbound carriageway of the A23 at Slaugham, near Handcross Hill.

This was just two miles from where a headless and handless torso was dumped in 1991.

At first it was believed the bones at Slaugham might possibly have belonged to missing Gary Hampson, a father from Brighton murdered in 2011. His body has never been recovered.

Animals had disturbed the remains, which were eventually discovered to have come from more than one body.

Forensic experts said they had been there for hundreds of years.

Police had been alerted after workmen found a human jaw when clearing the area for major road- widening works on the A23.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said yesterday: “Police were informed on Wednesday that some bones, which could possibly be human, had been found near a pond in Parish Lane, Pease Pottage.

"A member of public who was fishing found them on Monday.”