chestnut

The following year, his balloon burst a mile above the ground in Virginia, and his re-attempt at the flight saw him wrecked among burr chestnut trees and almost killed.

Mr Jakins, a conker competitor since 1977, denied using a steel horse chestnut at any point in the tournament, and said he kept a steel conker on him for "humour value".

There were fears before the event that there could be a shortage of conkers due to high winds blowing horse chestnut seeds from trees earlier in the autumn.

Organisers of the World Conker Championships in Southwick in Northamptonshire say there are enough horse chestnut seeds for this year's tournament.

Speaking near the area she was found, now overgrown with brambles, nettles and horse chestnut trees, detective Franc Dannerolle says the teenager’s body was “disposed of like garbage”.