DETECTIVES investigating the murder of a student whose body was dumped at a beauty spot are probing if his death was linked to a robbery.

Umair Waseem, 22, had been a victim of crime last year and had reported the matter to police.

Officers are probing whether he may have been attacked in revenge.

They are also looking at the possibility that he was killed in a case of mistaken identity.

The body of Umair, from Deane, Bolton, was found at a car park at Anglezarke, near Chorley, on Mo-nday morning by United Utilities workers.

His hands and legs had been bound and he had suffered severe head injuries.

Umair was last seen by his fam-ily at 7.45pm on Sunday, when he went out in a silver 7 Series BMW car that belonged to a friend, but which he had been driving for some months.

The vehicle was also found in the car park, off Moor Road.

Detective Superintendent Steve Brunskill, leading the investig-ation, said: “This was an extre-mely violent murder and the victim suffered some of the most horrendous head injuries I have ever seen. We really have no idea why he was targeted in this way.

“It could be a case of mistaken identity and he did not know his killer. We believe his body had been there from 9.30pm the night before, as snow started falling just after that and there were no tracks around the body.”

Detectives from Lancashire are working jointly with officers from Greater Manchester.

A major investigation room has been set up in Chorley.

Anyone who has any infor-mation in relation to the victim is asked to contact the police at Chorley on 01257 246271, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.