Police have said they do not believe there were any suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of a man whose body was found inside a burnt-out car in Kinver, South Staffordshire. Staffordshire Police issued the update on 31 October, two days after the discovery, after what the force described as extensive enquiries.

Officers were called to Sheepwalks Lane shortly after 8.20am on Thursday 29 October, when a burnt-out car was spotted parked in the gateway to a field. A body was found inside the vehicle. The car has since been recovered to a secure facility for forensic examination, and a cordon put in place around the scene was later lifted, with the road reopening.

In the update, police said they now believe the man who died was in his 20s and from the West Midlands area, although formal identification has still to take place. Officers contacted his family on the morning of 31 October to tell them the news, and the force said the formal identification process was expected to take some time.

Detective Inspector David Rowlands, from CID, said the investigation had progressed significantly since the force's initial enquiries and thanked members of the public who had been asking for updates. He said that, after carrying out extensive enquiries, officers did not believe there to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding the man's death.

The force is now preparing a file for HM Coroner so the matter can proceed through the coroner's process. Formal identification and any post-mortem work can take time when remains are recovered from a fire-damaged vehicle, and police said they would keep the public informed as the coroner's process proceeds.

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service and fire investigators from West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service assisted at the scene on 29 October. Sheepwalks Lane runs through a rural area near the Staffordshire and Shropshire border, around five miles from Stourbridge, in a part of Kinver popular with walkers and cyclists.

Kinver is a large village in South Staffordshire, close to Stourbridge and Kidderminster, and Sheepwalks Lane lies in the rural area around the village near the National Trust's Kinver Edge. The lane is popular with walkers and cyclists, and the discovery of the burnt-out car in the gateway to a field drew a large emergency response on the Thursday morning, with police, fire crews and forensic investigators at the scene for much of the day.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Staffordshire Police on 101 or report it online, quoting incident 162 of 29 October. Information can also be given anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.